Black Prince
by megamatt09
Summary: The last son of Krypton is taken in by someone completely different and is turned into something that the world did not expect. Kal/Harem.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue: **

Jor-El quickened his pace, as the world was about ready to come down onto them all, Brainiac had betrayed them, Zod had slaughtered countless, Kandor was gone, but there was only one last hope that Krypton could be saved, preserved, immediately.

There was a second where he grew panicked and started yelling.

"LARA!" Jor-El yelled as he quickened his pace. "LARA!"

His wife was not there and he was not sure how much he liked that. Then he started to look around and the true dread had come into his mind. His son, the heir of the legacy of the House of El, the last son ever born on Krypton, was completely gone. There was only a glowing blue crystal left in Kal-El's cradle.

Jor-El stepped forward, he had shown emotion, a scarce attribute for someone of his keen scientific mind but never the less he showed it. The crystal was very nearly in his hand as he scooped it up and held it with trembling hands.

The image appeared immediately, dark eyes, dark beard, dark robes, dark heart, he was there before him.

'_Zod,' _Jor-El thought as there was dread growing through his heart immediately.

"Good afternoon, Jor-El, my friend," Zod said as he spoke with a soft smoothness that went through his voice. "I'm sure you've wondered where your precious son is and your wife. Do not be alarmed, they are not harmed, at least not yet. I was only going to take your son, but I came to the conclusion that a mother and her son should not be separated, even at the end."

Jor-El's hand trembled as he looked at the escape pod that he prevented to send his son off of the planet, even at the end.

"I sympathize with you, Jor-El, I understand what it is like to lose my son and my wife, believe me, I know," Zod whispered in a harsh tone and that caused tingles to run down Jor-El's spine. He could hardly believe, there was a sickening lurch in the pit of his stomach. "You could have brought my son back Jor-El, you had the ability, but you refused to do so. After all that I've done for you, after I spoke to you in front of the council. You take my son away from me, I take your son away from you. It's only fair."

Jor-El knew that the ravages of war had made Zod rather unhinged.

"Although your evacuation plan leaves much to be desired," Zod said as he tutted. "So many things could go wrong with an escape pod on auto pilot. It could be misdirected, it could malfunction, your poor son could die upon entry, so much, so many variables. "

Jor-El could see the crystal towers dropping to the ground out of the corner of his eye but Zod was not done. Krypton crumbling around him was an apt metaphor.

"The Council will never find me, and they will never find your son and your wife, not that they do not have time, I should have known that you had alternate means of escape, but you were too stubborn to use it, or perhaps too prideful, perhaps you did not want to leave Krypton at the end," Zod said and Jor-El walked over, the one exit portal in his office, had been used and obviously set to destroy, so he could not follow where Zod went, even if he wanted to. "You do not leave the planet, that has spurned you, has called your genius eccentric. I admire your dedication Jor-El but it's a pity that no one would remember it. I will have the last laugh immediately, for when I leave Krypton."

Jor-El thought last laugh would have been perfect but he could see Zod's image on the crystal immediately.

"Come in, this is not a drill…..seismic vibrations…..towers cracking…"

Jor-El had no will to even answer, not that it would do him any good. He walked forward, he tried to use whatever time he had left to repair the portal.

He reached to pull a piece of tarp out of the way but he saw a pair of feet, part of a dismembered body that was sticking out from underneath the portal.

Jor-El felt sickened and bile rose to the top of his throat.

Spurts of fire shot up from underneath the ground. He wondered if one of his servants had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once the towers started falling, he sent them all home, to say their final goodbyes to their loved ones, knowing that this was it. Did any of them make it home?

Jor-El could not move the portal on his own and the roof began to cave in, as his lab tipped over.

The planet began to crack open and Jor-El knew that if the planet was going to blow, it was going to be a mercy killing.

"ZOD!" Jor-El yelled as the crystal slid away but Zod's insidious laughter could be heard. The scientist could not believe this, he could see the ship, the AI that was made to guide his son to his destiny, none of it would ever make it off of the planet.

Jor-El tried in vain one last time to repair the portal but all of the power in his lab shorted out.

Failure was an extremely powerful emotion and Jor-El felt that one a hundred fold. His son and wife could be anywhere in the universe right now and it was not like they would ever know.

Krypton knew no more as the planet exploded. There were no survivors.

* * *

Lara Lor-Van kneeled in the middle of the field, dressed in white robes that were blood stained, as she clutched a twisted dagger in her hand. The winds were calm and she felt herself stranded in the middle of nowhere.

The blonde staggered, as her injuries were fairly nasty but she had to press on.

She was too afraid to move, this wasn't Krypton, and where was her son?

She had to find him.

* * *

General Dru-Zod managed to escape with injuries, but he knew when the sun came up, he would be healed. He would be a god on this petulant backwater and all would kneel before him. He could solve all of the world's problems and he would groom the son of Jor-El in his image, it was a win-win situation.

It was a violent struggle between Lara and Zod, and both of them were separated somehow. Along with the child, and Zod was not going to let him get away that easily.

* * *

The bundle lied outside of a doorstep in the middle of a mansion in New York City. There was a figure that had heard a disturbance and had walked out to investigate.

Her black hair was silky and dark as the midnight. She wore a black corset that stretched around her ample breasts, and thigh high black boots that added to her appeal. She looked down at the child, at first she intended to dismiss it.

Then she noticed something, she sensed something within it, perhaps she should not dismiss it so readily. There was potential, there was power.

When one was the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, an organization who did not adhere to the morals of common society, they took over opportunity imaginable.

Selene Gallio, the Black Queen, smiled. She had lived long enough to know that a child did not just randomly fall out of the sky, not without a reason, and not without significance.

She scooped up the bundle with the child and brought him inside. This presented a perfect opportunity.

**To Be Continued. **


	2. Visitors

**Visitors.**

Lara shuddered as the cool air hit her body as she made her way into the field. She could not believe that Kal-El had slipped away from her, he had to be somewhere. The blonde brushed her hair away from her eyes as she could barely hold her head up.

The blonde kept walking forward and could hear something. It was a flying device above her head, she did not recognize it.

It looked extremely primitive, which told her that she was on a planet where science was far less advanced than Krypton. The blonde took half of a step forward and collapsed.

Blood she lost a lot of it, in the struggle with Zod. The only solace that Lara could take in all of this was that she hurt him just as bad as he hurt her. He had thought that she would be an easy conquest. He was a soldier, she was a civilian after all.

Lara could not believe that her son was gone. Her fear was that he had never made it off of Krypton. Well actually the real fear was that he had been trapped in limbo between the two words, which was a fate worse than death.

There was someone coming and Lara tensed up. She could not fight. The worst thing she could think was she would be captured and she would never really thought about it. The blonde brushed her fingers as she could feel the healing embrace of the yellow sunlight that was about ready to pop down on her from above her.

The blonde placed her hand on the other side of her clothes and while the blood stains was there, the cut was healing.

Lara recalled the theories of the yellow sunlight empowering Kryptonians but seeing was in fact believing and it showed why Zod had gone to this planet. Primitive as the technology might have been, there was one thing that could make anyone strong and that was the healing embrace of the yellow sunlight.

Earth did have potential and she doubted very much the natives would be too friendly to any visitors. The blonde woman stepped forward, as she thought about all that she had lost, there was no turning back. If Jor-El's theories were correct, Krypton was likely gone, and friends and family were gone with it.

She could not lose her son; she would not lose her son, that was the fact of the matter.

There was something out there that she could see immediately, a shining light. Friend or foe, she had no idea what was there and she had to find out pretty soon.

"Come forward, do not be afraid."

Lara was anxious but she was not naïve. One did not become a doctor on Krypton without having some brains her head. The wounds had healed, which meant that any wounds that she gave Zod were likely to have healed right there.

Lara sped off and was surprised. She was taken off guard with the sudden burst of super speed, her hair was thrown in complete disarray.

The footsteps got closer to her immediately and Lara turned around to see someone, who had almost appeared behind her. Her attire was not like anything she had ever seen. Even on the grainy pictures that had been sent to Earth, she had not seem it. One might consider it to be obscene but Lara was completely distracted by it immediately.

"My name is Selene….you must be the other visitor that fell to Earth," she told the woman who stood, her mouth hanging upon and she nodded.

"Please, I don't want any trouble," Lara said as she could see that this woman was formidable and she had powers that she could barely understand and likely would injure herself before she could injury anyone else.

"Relax, I'm not here to give you trouble, take a deep breath, oxygen will help you focus," Selene said softly as she slowly put her hand upon the blonde woman's cheek and ran it down. It was so beautiful indeed, as she looked the woman in the eyes, a bright smile on her face.

Lara shivered in spite of herself at this woman immediately.

"I have the other one that was here….."

"My son, you have my son?" Lara asked as she was startled.

"I will have to explain on the way, before other parties notice your arrival, I had to have your son transported immediately to another place," she said as she watched Lara. "My name is Selene, come with me, I will explain it on the way."

"There's another that came here," Lara whispered, she was desperate, especially how this woman had brought her son here. "His name is Zod, he is ruthless, he kidnapped my son and I, I think he intended to kill us and then take over this planet."

Selene frowned, this Zod taking over this planet was not part of her plans.

"I will deal with him but your son awaits," Selene said as she placed her arm around Lara's slender neck.

"My name is Lara," Lara said.

"A beautiful name but the label fits," Selene whispered in a deep sensual whisper in the woman's ear.

Lara had lost everything but she was not about to lose her son, not after all of what happened.

Selene understood that the mother would be a vital resource if her plans were to go forth and the woman was of unmistakable beauty. That made the arrangement even more amazing. Her golden blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and soft face, along with her supple curves, they were out of this world, no pun intended.

The son had potential as well, something that she had been looking for, for quite some time.

* * *

General Zod refused to believe that one child would have gotten his far. The man marched forward as he could see that someone had sighted him here. Every second he was under the yellow sun, he grew stronger and it would be soon where he would not be able to hide from these cockroaches.

"Insolence, they will pay," Zod whispered. The Council had sentenced him to the Phantom Zone but he still had allies that gave him the heads up. He had taken the wife and son of the man who betrayed him in the first place. He had intended to raise Jor-El's son in his own image and as for Lara….well she would make an amusing diversion. She would kneel before him.

Zod felt himself escalate as he flew. Being a tactical genius, he was able to work out his powers immediately.

Two planes flew on either side of him and Zod felt annoyed. It was obvious that they were trying to close in on them.

Zod reared his hand back and smashed one of the planes, ripping through it with a savage force. He was brought down immediately and flew down to the ground.

He held the other plane between his hands and launched it backwards. The plane spiraled hard and crashed against a set of mountains where it exploded.

All were cockroaches to him, they were not people but rather cockroaches that would be crushed underneath his foot. Zod's smile grew even more sinister as he prepared to see who would all kneel before him.

* * *

Nova-Roma was a land that Selene built all of those centuries back and she stood right around the amazing architecture that was at the front of the village with the royal palace.

Lara looked around the village, she was impressed beyond her will. There were large towers that were nearly as amazing as that upon Krypton.

"My descendants will get the best and nothing more," Selene said with a smile on her face. Some had called her a harsh tyrant and perhaps she did have to rule with an iron fist sometimes and crush people underneath her thigh high boot. That being said, she took a direct role in taking care of those who had curried her favor. She was fair, although given the type of people she had to deal with, she had to be far nastier than some would be comfortable with. "Your son….Kal-El….wasn't it?"

"Yes," Lara said as she nodded.

"He is staying up at the Royal Palace, being treated like he should," Selene said and there was a moment where Lara stopped and stared at an amazing statue at the foot of the Royal Palace. "Is there something the matter, Lara?"

"No….no….there is nothing," Lara said as she shook her head. She could see the symbol of the House of El imposed on that statue, the S Shield that covered the uniform of a tall and imposing man. It appeared to be some center of worship for the Star Child, at least that's what the inscription said.

"They prophesized his return," Selene said without missing a beat. "Some day, he would come, and all will pay tribute to him. He will be the savior that the world needed, it is a legend that dates back even before my days."

Lara did wonder but she shook her head. All mothers had high expectations for their sons but a god, perhaps that was a bit too much.

"Queen Julianna of Nova Roma, this is Lara, she is the second visitor I told you about," Selene said to the woman who was waiting there.

The woman who stood there, she was an unmistakable beauty. She had silky black hair that went down past her shoulders and a bright golden crown. She had a light chocolate complexion with warm blue eyes and moist succulent lips, not to mention high regal cheekbones. Her breasts were supple and her stomach was flat. Her robes parted to reveal a nice set of soft chocolate colored legs and she wore opened sandals to show the tops of her feet.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, your highness," Lara said respectfully, hoping that she got the greeting right.

"It's my pleasure," Julianna said as she looked at Lara with a bright smile on her face. "And please, it's Julianna, you are a guest on this island, you should not feel the need to be formal."

"Right, Julianna," Lara said as she looked around.

"The young child, this is his mother, his name is Kal-El," Selene told Julianna and she nodded as she lead Lara down the hallway. There were several male guards who looked terrified as Selene walked forward and Lara looked around curiously. The women as she walked by were a bit more at ease but they were not about to overstep their bounds.

"There is always enough room here, ever since my husband passed away last year," Julianna said immediately. "Whoever my daughter marries, is the heir apparent of the throne."

"Yes, Princess Amara, how is she?" Selene asked.

"She's perfectly healthy," Julianna said with a smile. She would never know her father, having just been born a month after he died.

They came across of a five year old blonde girl who was sitting, she had blue eyes, wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans.

"Are you finding everything that you need, Emma?" Julianna asked to the blonde female kindly.

"Yes," Emma said haughtily as she found everything sure enough. The only reason why she was sent to spend the summer at Nova-Roma was to prevent her and her sisters from killing each other, her father's words. She was only mildly interested about the new arrivals.

"Do not forget, Miss Frost, you are family on this island," Selene said to the younger blonde. She was the heir apparent to one of the largest shipping companies in the world. "But you should learn respect, for it is a virtue no matter what your net worth is."

Emma barley avoided rolling her eyes but she hid it behind the book that she was reading.

Lara was lead into the nursery where she saw her sleeping son. She stepped forward and listened to his heart beat immediately.

"Safe and sound, as I promised," Selene said. "And he checks out, there was no consequences to his trip on Earth. You can reunite with him further in the morning."

Lara had no reason to argue.

"And I have a proposition for you, if you wish to hear it," Selene said and Lara looked at the woman. She was older, more experienced, and Lara could not help but feel the slightest bit vulnerable. Yet, there was some seductive quality that she felt herself get ensnared by. "Perhaps we should retire to my bed chamber to discuss this further."

That last statement was said suggestively.

"I will watch over your son until you return, Lara," Julianna said with a smile on her face.

Lara allowed herself to be lead off by Selene, she could not help but feel the shivers that went down her spine. Plus she wanted to find out more about this Star Child legend that seemed to be all over Nova-Roma for she passed a large display talking about the legend, although she did not have a chance to read it.

* * *

Zod stopped immediately outside of what appeared to be a Power Plant of some sort. It was filthy, as was the water right across from it. Humans really had no regard for how they lived, that much was for sure.

"So, you've made quite a stir, haven't you?"

Zod turned around.

"You speak to me….."

"I speak to you, but I don't wish to attack you, I believe the two of us can help each other with what might be a mutual problem," the man in the shadows said. "I know you're searching for someone, and I know where he is. The other visitor on this planet."

"The son of Jor-El!" Zod yelled and the man corked an eyebrow.

"Yes, the child has been found by Selene, and it poses a danger to both of us, we must end this before it starts," he said. "My name is Sebastian Shaw, I am the Black King of the Hellfire Club, and I have a proposition for you."

Zod smiled. "I'm listening."

**To Be Continued. **


	3. Coup

**Chapter Three: Coup. **

"And that holds any relevance to me because….."

"I think that it holds much relevance to you Mr….." Shaw started, as his dark hair hung down his back as he was dressed in Victorian era garb.

"General…..General Zod."

"Well, I have always respected those in military and their dedication but I take it that you are not from this world," Shaw said in a crisp and calm voice.

"No, I'm not, I have arrived from an advanced planet that somehow lacked the imagination to accomplish much and rested on their laurels, but all of them met a sticky end," Zod whispered harshly.

"The ends must have justified the means if such a thing was a mandated," Shaw said as he was intrigued by what this Zod had up his sleeve. It was most certainly something that he would have to keep a more critical eye for the foreseeable future. "But you do lack one thing on this planet despite all of your powers….."

"Explain," Zod snapped sharply. He was not in the mood to hear this hairless ape point out all of his flaws.

"You lack the influence to spread your power, which is something that I can assist with," Shaw told him as he extended a hand forward. Zod did not take it, at least not yet. "You have powers but there are more than one type of power than physical strength. But naturally as a General, you would be to understand such a thing."

"Yes, that is correct," Zod whispered as he locked eyes with Shaw and Shaw nodded in agreement.

"Allow me to help you," Shaw said and Zod stared back at him.

"What is in it for you?" Zod asked.

"I wish to crush someone who thinks that because of longevity, she is the one to run the Hellfire Club," Shaw told Zod and Zod's eyes shifted towards the man in the shadows. "The Hellfire Club is an organization that is older than many current civilizations, we have been working through the shadows and have influenced many of the main power brokers in the world. And we would like to put our influence in front of you General. All I ask for you, is that you will crush Selene under your foot."

"This Selene….what is it for me?" Zod asked, being a man of tactics, he wished to see how this influenced him.

"Selene has the other when that arrived here," Shaw said and Zod's eyes widened in rage.

"The son of Jor-El," Zod said with pure venom dripping through his voice as he looked at Shaw. "Very well, Mr. Shaw, we have an arrangement, I get the son of Jor-El, you get control of this Hellfire Club."

Zod thought that he could just kill this fool Shaw should he become a problem.

"We do have an agreement, then?" Shaw inqiuried, knowing that once Zod had got him what he wanted, than he would ensure Zod found his way in government custody, helpless as a kitten, to be experimented and dissected by those willing to unlock the secrets of the universe.

"Yes," Zod whispered as he gave Shaw a firm handshake which was not a so subtle reminder of who controlled this dance.

* * *

Lara rested on the bed, with nothing but a sheet covering her body. She could not believe that the last few days that were but needless to say, Selene was a very passionate negotiator and convinced her to go over to her side of the equation. The blonde smiled at the thought of everything, needless to say, this was the most pleasure she ever felt.

The blonde rested on the bed, her silky golden blonde hair framing her face as she barely stifled a yawn and tried to sit up immediately but she was so comfortable.

"You know, I'd think that you'd only agreed to this arrangement just to sleep in my bed," Selene said without turning around. Selene was at the mirror, brushing her hair with a calm expression on her face. She wore absolutely nothing and her bare ass was on full display. She made her way to the wardrobe and slowly fumbled with the lock, opening it.

The dark haired woman smiled immediately as she saw black corsets as far as the eye could see. She actually had to dig for something a bit more casual, not to stand out. As much as she loathed the fact.

"Well your bed is an interesting place to be," Lara said as she got up to her feet.

"We will need to assess your powers and your capabilities later," Selene said as she handed Lara a t-shirt and a pair of jeans that she rummaged out of the closet. The robes that she wore were pretty much mutilated and stained in her own blood, it was not an attractive look for the Kryptonian. "It would be beneficial to do so, given we can train Kal-El….."

"Do you think that my son has the potential to be powerful?" Lara asked.

"He has a potential to be a god among insects," Selene said without missing a beat and Lara frowned. "I understand that you might make misgivings. The best rulers are in fact benevolent, although I do not have it in me to rule in such a matter. They make everyone believe that they are their friend and they crush those who would cruelly subjecgate the world to increase their own standing. And there are those who are extremely dangerous out there."

"My son…..he can really be the best," Lara said as she looked forward and got dressed. The blonde was not ashamed of her body but she felt that it would be in the best of modesty. "We've already lost so much…."

"I sympathize," Selene said swiftly. "You do not live as long as I have, without experiencing some loss. Some might say it has shaped me others might state that it has warped me. I will cut out their tongues when I find those people and feed the rest of them to ravenous tigers."

Lara could tell that Selene was brutal but given what she learned about the woman, she supposed that she had to be. She had enemies that would not play nice to her.

There was a knock on the door that brought both women out of their thoughts.

"Enter, it's unlocked,' Selene said and the door opened. A young woman with red hair and freckles entered, dressed in a white dress shirt and slacks, along with boots entered and handed Selene an envelope.

Selene opened it and Lara was curious but she knew that it was best not to pry especially in a situation like this.

"He is getting rather brazen," Selene whispered as she could not really believe it.

"What….."

"Shaw, he really thinks that he can move against me," Selene said but there was a distinct lack of surprise in her voice. To be honest, the woman felt that this was coming sooner rather than later. "And him forming an alliance with General Zod….."

"Zod?" Lara asked and the woman turned her head around. "He wouldn't make a deal with Shaw….unless he planned to get something out of it."

"And I know the same thing of Shaw," Selene said as her lips threatened to twist into a smile. "It is not a matter of who stabs who in the back but a matter of who pulls the trigger first."

"So…."

"Zod wants Kal-El, Shaw has been looking for an opportunity to oust me for years," Selene informed Lara who nodded in agreement. The Black Queen of the Hellfire Club found Shaw's efforts to be quite amusing, if not a little bit tiring. "The problem for Shaw is that he is a fool who wouldn't be able to match wits for me. But this Zod…..he would be the perfect blunt object to send after me and I'm certain that he's already arranged for Zod to be sent off to some government facility."

"He doesn't know Zod's weaknesses….does he?" Lara asked and Selene looked at her.

"Do you?" Selene asked and Lara smiled.

"He has powers underneath the yellow sun but underneath the red sun, he is mortal as he was on Krypton," Lara said and Selene looked on with a smile.

"Well, that's interesting," Selene said, she had the resources and the contacts to create a red sun filter. "And Zod hasn't had a chance to train his powers where he would have sufficient reserves."

"I doubt that much," Lara said. "Also, my husband discovered that there is one other element that no matter how powerful a Kryptonian is, they are vulnerable to it."

"And that is….."

"Magic, it effects them as much as it would affect anyone else," Lara said and Selene said nothing. "Does that help?"

"Actually, yes," Selene, a plan to deal with both Zod and Shaw was formulating in the back of her head immediately. It was only a matter of getting them both in position.

Finding them should be not a problem. Given what Lara told her, Zod did have a flair for the dramatic.

* * *

Nick Fury lived for this sort of thing and the strangeness in the world did not phase the hard nosed director of SHIELD. He could see that this new visitor needed to receive a suitable reception and Fury was not about to decline that fact.

"March out," Fury told his men and the Agents nodded, as they had guns. Given that these were individuals who managed to destroy a high caliber SHIELD vehicle, Fury doubted that they would do much good.

"So, you've decided to face me."

"You might assume that," Fury said as he looked at the man. "And you are…."

"General Zod," Zod said as he looked at Fury. "It appears that you have some military connections as well…."

"My name is Nick Fury, I'm the director of SHIELD, and you are in violation of our airsplace," Fury said as he held a huge cannon over his shoulder. "I'd suggest that you get out of the sky or….."

"Or what?" Zod asked as his eyes practically taunted Fury with a few seconds of heat vision. "You are but a hairless ape….."

Fury did not waste any more time for pleasantries, he blasted Zod out of the sky with a huge beam of light. It struck the General, seconds before he extended his hand.

A loud pop echoed and Zod put his fist through the weapon without a scratch. More were fired upon the man but they might as well have been fighting spitballs.

"You fight with the force of school children," Zod said in amusement as he shot fire from his eyes and burned the weapons. The SHIELD agents were lucky that Zod did not burn their fingers off. "But you should know who masters this race."

"We'll see," Fury replied as Zod looked at him and snatched Fury up by his throat, dangling him off of the ground.

"We shall," Zod agreed as the heat vision threatened to cut into his forehead. "You aren't what I have come for but you will be an interesting bonus. You will be among those who will kneel before Zod."

"Let me make one thing clear, I kneel before no man," Fury said before he was tossed down to the ground like he was nothing.

The body of Fury bounced off of the ground, his limbs breaking at a disgusting angle as Zod hovered halfway above him.

"I disagree," Zod said as he saw Shaw approach the scene.

"Fury, you should have known better," Shaw said as he shook his head. "You need to learn that respect is key and you should respect your superiors."

"I'll let you know when I see one, you smug shit," Fury growled as he practically spit blood from his mouth at Shaw.

"Once again, that temper is what got you in that position," Shaw said as he could see SHIELD watching his secret weapon. He allowed Zod deliver this very public display for one reason and one reason alone.

It would make SHIELD inclined to hold him when Shaw dug the knife between the General's shoulder blades.

"You know, you talk a good game Shaw, but you've always hid behind the most powerful person."

Shaw turned around and saw Selene standing there, the Black Queen staring him down.

"Selene, you should know how the game works in the Hellfire Club," Shaw whispered with harshness dripping from his voice.

"I have a better idea than most but that point is not relevant," Selene answered as she stared Shaw down.

"Yes, I understand but now I have the perfect weapon to mow you down and you are nothing but a petulant child, despite your age," Shaw said.

"One would not think that you own a mirror, Sebastian," Selene said as she stared him down.

"Zod crush her," Shaw said and Zod turned his ugly glare to Shaw.

"Let me make one point perfectly clear, Zod does not take orders, he gives them!"

Zod and Shaw looked about ready to have an argument, which allowed Selene to call in her secret weapon.

BOOM!

Lara's fist collided with the head of Zod and caused the General to fly off to the side. He smacked against the building with a full force.

"What in the name of Sam Hill?" Fury cursed as he saw the blonde woman. "There are two of them…."

"A lucky shot, but you should know that you're a civilian…..I'm a soldier, therefore there is much you need to learn before you take me down, my dear," Zod whispered with a leer as he caught Lara's arm as she tried to swing it into him and he twisted it behind her back. The blonde closed her eyes as Zod held her arm behind his back.

She rolled with Zod and hurled him halfway against the city. It was in position, just like Selene said.

Getting Zod there was proving to be exceedingly difficult but Lara was not one to give up immediately.

She tried to bring the sonic boom down on Zod but Zod grabbed her around the neck.

"Such a pretty woman, it's a pity that I'll have to crush your skull," Zod whispered in her ear. "And then who will protect your son…."

One should have never underestimated the rage of a mother when her son was threatened and Lara knocked Zod through three sets of windows. People screamed in horror as the blonde launched Zod halfway across the city.

Zod flew down to the ground and Lara grabbed her adversary around the head. She plowed him into the ground hard. Zod planted like an ugly looking tree and rolled over to look up at him.

"Mortal as anyone else," Lara said as they saw the red sunlight shine over the both of them.

"Don't confuse mortal, for weak, Lara," Zod retorted harshly as he rushed forward and tried to stab Lara. She caught the blade, barely and sent it back into him once again.

"I'll take it from here."

Selene's hands clenched Zod's shoulders and forced him down. For once it was Zod doing the kneeling as she drained his energy from him. Selene was pleased with the energy, even though the taste was a bit off. She could remain young and strong off of it.

"You won't get away with this!" Zod howled as Selene let him go and he became a dried out husk.

"Selene, you must realize that he blackmailed me….."

Selene could see Shaw's mouth moving but she was not too interested in hearing the drivel that spilled from it. She wrapped her hand around Shaw's throat and squeezed, sucking the life from him as well.

Two birds were down with one stone and Selene turned to Lara, who looked rather awe struck with what she saw and terrified as well.

"I'll keep them….secure in case I may have need of them," Selene said as she parted Lara's blonde hair and smiled. "Excellent….excellent."

"Yes, excellent," Lara said as she wondered what she had got herself into. She was actually intrigued and terrified at the same time.

* * *

Lara reflected on the day that was, she was currently sitting in a chair in the Imperial Palace of Nova-Roma, with her son cradled in her arms. He was sleep, likely innocent to the dangers that he nearly avoided today when Zod and Shaw were taken down.

"I'd like to say that we'd seen the last of them but…..we'll see," Selene said as she stepped into the next room and saw Kal cradled in Lara's arms. The woman smiled, if he fulfilled half of the potential that she thought he could, be would be something indeed.

"Yes, we'll see," Lara agreed as she did wonder about something. "You….."

"What I did to them was not pleasant, I make no bones about that and make even fewer apologies," Selene said to Lara as she stared down the blonde who nodded, accepting that thought immediately. "However, what they could have done had they put their differences aside, I think that we will both agree that it was for the best that they were taken out."

"Yes," Lara agreed as she brushed her fingers through her hair but stopped. It was a annoying habit she picked up when nervous.

"Kal-El is safe and the ends justify the means," Selene told Lara. "And I'm sure that you are intrigued about exploring the limits of your own gifts given time."

Lara opened her mouth and Selene placed a hand up. She leaned forward, so only Lara and her could hear what was being said next. Not that there would be anyone foolish enough to listen in to a conversation that involved the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club.

"Power is intoxicating but yet it rules the world. Few are able to handle the full scope of it, but you will handle it."

Lara swiftly nodded, she could not argue with what Selene said. The results of the power that she experienced spoke for themselves and she felt a tingle inside her stomach at the thought of using these gifts.

"Kal-El will be strong once he grows up, he will not be forced to hide from a world that hates and fears what he can do to him, normal is something that only those without imaginations strive to be," Selene whispered seductively in Lara's ear. "And I wish to offer you a position as the Black King of the Hellfire Club, albeit temporarily."

"Isn't that….."

"Gender does not matter, as I have many of the main power brokers eating out of the palm of my hand, mainly because they do not want to share Shaw's tragic fate," Selene informed Lara and she nodded, her jaw clenching at the very thought. "But someone like you, you can be extremely great, that much I'm certain of."

"Yes," Lara whispered, she felt herself intoxicated and she would have to agree. "But is it not a role for my son?"

"When he gets older but first, our little Black Prince must grow into the man that he would become, and first he must enjoy the simple pleasures that life brings," Selene told Lara and Lara clenched her jaw nodding. "So do we have an arrangement?"

Lara paused and held Kal-El. She was weighing all of the options in her head and many of them included what her son's future would bring.

"I….."

"I understand if you wish to take some time to consider all of the possibilities but you must asked yourself one question. Do you have anything to lose by accepting? And do you have everything to lose by declining? The world will not leave your son and you alone, and they will find ways to lock you up. I am not trying to pressure you but trying to tell you the reality of the situation."

"I know," Lara said as she pondered everything. "And I think that it would be best for all of us….."

"So do you accept?" Selene asked after Lara trailed off.

There was no hesitation in her voice. "Yes."

It was as Selene expected, and she smiled as she looked at Kal-El. He would grow into a god among men and it would be a mutually beneficial partnership for all of them.

The world was about to change in ways that Selene could not even begin to realize.

**To Be Continued In the Next Arc "Growing Up."**


	4. Growing Up

**Chapter Four: Growing Up.**

Kal Shaw was the heir to the Shaw Legacy, although oddly enough neither of his mothers were in fact a Shaw. He was five years old and a bright young man, he could be considered to be a child prodigy in many ways. He knew a lot more than he should at that young age with his enhanced brain power allowing him to read at a far younger age and walk as well, amongst other things.

There were other differences about him that he noticed.

"I knew this day would come, Kal."

One of his mothers, Lara, said this as she looked at Kal. The five, nearly six year old boy looked at him.

"I launched it halfway across the city, it broke every law of physics," Kal said with a wisdom that would be lost on most people his age.

"Well, it should not be possible, if it were not for the fact that you were special," Lara said as she looked at her son. He was intelligent but he had enough innocence where there were still things that amazed him, despite being extraordinary and being surrounded by extraordinary people.

"I guess I am, I mean I always had an idea….."

"Yes, well, you were born not of this planet, but on a wonderful world, of advanced technology known as Krypton," Lara explained to him. "Underneath the planet's native red sun, we were as mortal as most humans you see on Earth. Underneath the yellow sun, we flourish and have abilities…..that are far beyond the imagining of most people."

To emphasize this point, Lara squinted her eyes and launched heat vision at a plate of cookies. It warmed them up. She zoomed over at super speed and snatched one up.

"Careful, they're hot," she warned her son and Kal looked at her. "Not that it matters, but….."

"I know," Kal said as he took the cookie into his mouth and chewed on it. He just saw his mother shoot fire from her eyes but it was something that he half expected. "Why did we leave the planet, Mother?"

"It was about to blow up…..although your father intended to send you off to this planet," Lara said and Kal looked at Lara.

"Alone?" Kal asked and Lara shook her head. She had gone over the flaws and the faults of Jor-El's plan so many times that it almost made her head spin.

"Yes…..well your father tended to have his heart in the right place, but some of his plans…..were not as thought out," Lara said as her son sat himself on his knee. "Sometimes, he used logic and that got in the way of intelligence. Not all solutions that are motivated by logic are necessary good. Kryptonians are not Vulcans after all."

'_Sometimes I think Jor-El forgot that,' _Lara thought as amusement danced through her eyes but she shook the cobwebs off.

"So, what did he intend to do….."

"He built a life pod but it was sufficient only enough to carry you….."

"That's stupid!" Kal snapped, his face scrunching up immediately but he looked apologetic. "Sorry Mother but it….."

"I know it is," Lara said as she slowly stroked her son's hair and smiled.

"I mean, how did he know that I would be found by someone who would just turn me into the government or something?" Kal asked hotly as he crossed his arms. "And how did he know that I would even make it to Earth in the first place?"

"Jor-El did have confidence in some ways, perhaps not in matters of the heart, but he was confident in his own designs," Lara said delicately. "Regardless, perhaps in another world, that plan was enacted but in this one, it wasn't. And we were kidnapped by him….General Zod….a cruel tyrant…..and he took us to Earth."

"What happened to Zod?" Kal asked as he wondered if this General would come back.

"Don't worry Kal, he's taken care of," Lara said and Kal's eyes widened. "It is interesting though, if it was not for Zod's act of defiance and his hatred of Jor-El, we would not be standing here having this conversation."

"Weird," Kal said as he shook his head. He was not sure how much that he liked that.

"Indeed," Lara said, there was really not much more to say other than that.

"Life does have interesting ways of working itself out," Selene said as she stood over. "So, I heard about your little….mishap with the basketball."

"Yes, mother, it flew over the city block and landed….."

"Shattering a precious monument in the process," Selene said and Kal nodded. She did appreciate the irony that Kal destroyed a monument to himself. It nearly made her laugh. "But, it can be repaired, and better than ever. So perhaps you did us a favor."

"I did, didn't I?" he asked and Selene nodded.

"Yes, you did," Selene said as she got to the meat and the potatoes of the situation. "But your powers…they're growing."

"They are, aren't they?" Kal asked with his eyes widening immediately, as he was excited about the prospects of his power.

"And they will be great in time but you are still young," Selene said to him softly as she looked him in the eye. "Therefore, you must allow your powers to be shaped, along with you, and you will do greater things."

"I will."

"And remember, there will be those who will always try and put you down to make a name for themselves," Selene told him. "By learning how to master your powers and exceed them, you will deal with them first. And you will be better than them, my Black Prince."

Selene decided to cut to the point of what she was saying.

"Your mother and I need to discuss the merits of your training," Selene told Kal. "It would be a shame if you did not enjoy the wonders of childhood before you were pulled into the sinking abyss of adulthood."

"Yes, mother," Kal said as he gave both of them a hug and a kiss as he walked off.

He saw someone waiting in the shadows.

"Soooo, did you get busted?"

"No, Amara, I didn't."

"You do realize that I only destroyed a monument to yourself."

"I did?"

"Yes, you did."

"Well….TAG YOUR IT!"

"Hey, no fair, you have super speed!"

* * *

Kal smiled as he could feel the rush of his power. As Selene and Lara told him, he was just going to grow stronger with each passing year. He had not hidden his Kryptonian side under a human façade, which the more he thought about it, the more it would do a disservice to his powers.

Much to his frustration, he had not managed to figure out how to fly but he was only twelve years old. His body was just starting to mature in many ways. He looked up, the entire world felt like it rested in the palm of his hands and if he just figured out how to tap into this power, he could go anywhere.

If he could go anywhere, he could do anything. Kal tried to get a running start, he had the super speed thing down pretty quick. He quickened his pace as he looked around.

"Hey, where are you going, Kal?"

Kal turned over towards her bright smile. She stood there in the shadows, the dark hair went down to her shoulders. Her chocolate colored skin reflected brightly in the sun as her lips curled into a smile. She was wearing a black tank top that allowed her to move freely on the sun in Nova-Roma and she wore a pair of cut off black jeans. She decided to forego sandals.

"Trying to fly, Amara," Kal said to her as she looked at him.

"Well, you'd get it, I mean you mastered everything else, this is just taking a bit longer than normal," Amara said with a whistle and Kal leaned forwards her to look at her.

"Is there something….."

"Well, I discovered my gifts the other day, it was just a spurt….literally a spurt, it was pockets of lava that shot out from underneath the ground," Amara said as she looked at Kal.

"Well, that's kind of cool," Kal admitted as he looked at the Nova-Roman Princess but she shook her head.

"Kind of, yes, but not as cool as your powers," Amara said as she looked at him. She managed to look him in the eyes with all of the poise and dignity one would expect from a princess.

"But, you'll mater than, just like I did," Kal said and Amara placed her hands on her hips. The eleven year old princess looked into the eyes of the twelve year old Kryptonian.

"I will, because I can," Amara said in a determined voice. "Selene told me that people were going to try to recruit me but….."

"But you think that you can do well on your own," Kal said and Amara nodded eagerly.

"Yes, I just don't see myself as a follower, although I see someone who I can stand side by side for as I lead my people," Amara said as she stood up. She had taken her responsibilities as the future leader of Nova-Roma extremely seriously. Then again, her mother had only tapped it into her skull from around the time where she could walk. "All of this will be mine."

"Great Rao, no pressure or anything, huh?" Kal asked.

"I wonder if there will come a day where they will invoke your name when they swear," Amara muttered underneath her breath and Kal grinned at her.

"Don't they already?" Kal asked as he looked at the future queen of Nova-Roma, his future queen of Nova-Roma. "I mean, Nova-Roma only has monuments of me about every one hundred feet."

"Don't let it get to your head or much, Kal-El," Amara muttered with a smile on her face.

"Well, I'm sure you can find a way to deflate it," Kal said to her and Amara looked at him with a grin on her face.

"I always do," she said in amusement. Then again, it was amazing how Kal-El was worshipped as a god by the people of this island, grown adults, and she actually got to know him beyond the prospect of being that god. Of course, it did help that she knew him from very early on in her life before she had an inkling of what that all meant.

The two shared a silent moment on the island.

"Did you ever wonder if you and Lara are the only two left?" Amara asked him quietly.

"Well, I've wondered," Kal admitted, but by the time he could walk, Krypton likely was long gone. Lara told him the story about those last days, how everything was being destroyed.

If there was another Kryptonian out there, or two, Kal would cross that bridge when he came to it. Hopefully they were nothing like Zod. He would welcome them with open arms where they can.

Amara looked at Kal, even at the age of twelve he was extremely handsome. He looked much older than her even though he was only around less than a year or so old.

"You're not going to set me on fire with that look, are you?" Kal asked her and Amara managed to jump on, nearly falling over. Kal caught her gently in his arms.

"No," Amara whispered as she returned herself back to reality.

Kal heard footsteps, having a pretty good ear, it was hard for him not to. He saw a blonde of about seventeen years of age appear on the island, although he was pretty much up to her face. And she was wearing heels.

"Kal," the blonde said as she took a step back, caught off guard.

"Well, Emma, it's nice to see you again," Kal said, although Emma was a bit of a brat to him when they were both younger. Then again, as Selene told him, Emma Frost was a bit of a brat to everyone and her sisters were much worse.

Kal was not quite sure what Selene meant that one day Kal would tame the lot of them.

"You've hit a growth spurt," Emma muttered as she could not keep her gaze off of Kal. It was to the point where she was fixated on him.

"Well, so I did, glad to see you noticed," Kal said as Emma smiled at him.

"I think that we have some catching up to do, it's been several months since I've had a chance to see you," Emma said as she took Kal's arm and looked over her shoulder towards Amara. "Princess."

Amara seethed, Emma Frost would not give Kal the time a day a year ago and now that he was handsome, she wanted to be his friend.

A volcano had a miniature eruption as she thought of Emma, seething.

"What does he see in her?" Amara asked as she crossed her arms.

"I'll explain to you when you're a bit older, dear," Selene said as she turned up behind Amara, causing the princess to jump at her "grandmother's" sudden appearance. "Although you're likely feeling certain desires towards Kal-El, and they will grow in time. And soon he will be filling them as well, as he reaches his first maturity."

"But….."

"Patience Amara," Selene told the princess as she stroked her cheek firmly.

'_Easy for you to say, you're older than the dirt on this island,' _Amara said as she kicked said dirt. Not that she would say such a thing to Selene's face.

She kind of valued her life.

* * *

Flight, Kal believed that he could do that, but there was no belief to it, he could do it. The wind blew through his face as he picked up the momentum. The Last Son of Krypton appeared above New York, it was late at night and he was careful not to be seen.

He could be halfway around the world before anyone had thought that he was anything but a drunken hallucination.

Kal dropped down to the ground and looked around as he could see the entire city. There were hundreds of conversations around him and hundreds more sounds. He held his hand to his head and listened to what was going on around him. The last son of Krypton craned his neck upwards as he could hear a lot of what was going on.

There was so much here that the sensations, they were pretty much overwhelming but he was experiencing them.

An explosion caught his attention.

'_Well that's interesting,' _Kal thought as he could see a couple of masked goons making their way there.

ZOOM!

Kal grabbed the goon around the head and hurled him up into the air, causing him to land down.

"What the hell was that?" the second goon asked as he turned around his shoulder as he pointed the gun forward towards the shadow.

He turned around and caught a hand smacked into his face, shattering his orbital bone from the impact. Blood oozed out of his nose as Kal stood over him, hovering over him.

Seconds later, the police arrived and were confused. These two goons broke inside and they were down, looking like they got ran over by a truck.

Kal was amused by the fact that no one saw him, to the naked eye at super speed, he was just a blur. The man craned his neck halfway back and Kal could hear the scream of a woman from the alleyway.

He sped forward once again and clonked the heads of the two would be harassers together. Their heads clanking together was a sickening sound and then he zoomed off.

The woman, blonde, stood in the alleyway, blinking. She was dressed in a tight black shirt, along with tighter black pants, and platinum blonde hair that was tied back. She looked from the goons to the alleyway.

"Hello?" she asked but she shrugged as her cell phone rang. She was a bit confused with what she saw but the woman was about to complain about those two goons being taken out. Give that one of them was about to pull a gun on her and blow her brains out.

Kal decided to continue his tour back to New York City and returned back to the island of Nova-Roma before he was missed.

"Some people sneak out and go to the movies, you sneak out and head halfway across the world, go figure."

Amara stood there, dressed in a tight black shirt that showed her midriff and cut-off jeans that showcased her shapely young legs.

"Hi, Kal-El," Amara said as she looked at him, he was good enough to eat and she would have him for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert.

"Amara, it's good to see you again," Kal whispered as he looked at the beautiful Nova-Roman princess who was really filling out as of late. Then again, she was always extremely pretty.

"I'm sure that you're glad to see me, handsome," Amara said as she placed her hand on Kal's shoulder and ran the circles around his shoulders. "And just to think, we have been practically married since the Age of Three, or something like that."

Both of them laughed, it was a nice little injoke that the both of them shared for quite some time. The beautiful princess grinned as she continued to trace her hand over Kal's shoulders.

"So, Emma got to you first, but I'm sure that you broke that snooty bitch," Amara said as she motioned for Kal to sit down and sit by her.

"She couldn't walk for three days after I was done with her," Kal said as Amara clung around his neck.

"Hmmm, I would have…..treated you a lot sooner if you would have asked me, sweetie," Amara said as she whispered hotly in Kal's ear.

"What's…..have you been getting in your grandmother's secret stash?" Kal asked in a mock stern voice.

"Maybe," Amara said with a sweet smile on her face as she used a nice little trick to burn Kal's shirt off, which showed her his chiseled chest and abs. "You see, you're a god honey and every woman should line up for the pleasure in getting your knees before you. And you have the powers to stop anything that threatens the world. That's what you have been doing, sneaking out to bust some heads?"

Amara giggled at Kal as she teased pressing her face against her friend and hopefully soon to be lover's neck. She ran her finger nails down ,going all the way down to his abs but she pulled back before she dipped her hand down his pants. She was going back and forth, running her fingers down his chest.

"Well….that's what I did," Kal managed as Amara slid one leg over the top of his right thigh and the other leg over his top thigh.

"Just think, the entire world is going to know how amazing that you are," Amara said as she licked her juicy lips.

"Nova-Roma already knows," Kal said as he watched Amara now drape herself over his lap. Her shirt dipped down to reveal the delicious cleavage that one would expect from a goddess like her.

"I know I do, Kal," Amara said as she placed her hand on the side of his face and looked into his gorgeous blue eyes. "You're going to be extremely super, and there will be people who will be talking about your exploits just like Captain America."

"I'm sure I can be better than him," Kal said, he had thought that Captain America might have been a hero but he was a little bit too righteous for Kal's liking. He seemed like the type of noble crusader that was all for truth, justice, and the American Way.

"I'm sure you will do better than him," Amara corrected as she ran her hands down his shoulders and his body, and she could feel her body heat up at the thought for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with your powers.

"And for the record, this was the first time that I went that far….flight does give me increased mobility," Kal said and Amara slid off of him, teasing sliding to his knees.

The Princess grinned as she could see him getting frustrated and pretty soon that was going to break. She envisioned Kal taking her and slamming her against that podium, spreading her legs, and drilling her until her leg went numb. That would be so hot that her nipples stiffened with the ultimate amount of pleasure.

"It's warm tonight," Amara said as she turned to Kal and he caught onto her game.

"Well it's always pretty hot," Kal said to the woman and Amara nodded, grinning despite herself.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I think that it would feel so good if I went for a nice, refreshing swim," Amara said as she slowly pulled off her tank top to reveal more and more of her delicious flesh.

She turned around and Kal could see from the lack of strap that she was not wearing anything underneath her top. He thought he could see the outlines of her bare breasts. She pulled the shirt off and tossed it from behind her, making sure that it landed in Kal's face.

"No rules, no inhibitions, no taboos," Amara whispered as she shimmied her bottoms down, revealing that she was wearing nothing of the same underneath. "A world where Hellfire burns brightly."

Amara sauntered towards the pool, teasing Kal with her bare ass as she was nearly inside.

"Kal, don't you think that you're a bit overdressed?" Amara asked as she dove inside. Only the tops of her breasts were visible in the slightly cool water.

At super speed, Kal disrobed and joined her, tonight would prove to be an extremely interesting night.

* * *

Nick Fury of SHIELD had a long memory and he was not about to forget something that the official higher ups in Washington had swept underneath the rug. Politicians came, politicians went, but one thing was for sure, Nick Fury was still here and he was still standing and waiting to find out what happened.

He ran into him, almost fifteen years ago, give or take several months, a man from the planet known as Krypton. Fury decided to go above his station in the sky, not in the literal sense but a figurative sense.

"Abigail Brand of SWORD speaking," a woman with green hair wearing glasses who appeared on the screen showed there. She wore a body suit that ramped around her frame, although she had subtle muscles. "Colonel Fury this is….."

"Agent Brand, I want to talk about what your organization knows about General Zod, the alien who showed up Earth some time back," Fury told her and Brand remembered the case.

"We were not able to find Zod or the woman who fought him, we believe that the Hellfire Club was involved in this, although we have not been able to pinpoint sufficient information," Brand told Fury.

"Wonderful," Fury grumbled, if the Hellfire Club had anything to do with it, then they had the resources to cause SHIELD headaches.

"The Planet Krypton is interesting, as we only have eye witness accounts of Zod and this woman, Agent Danvers is trying to track down the other woman but she seems to have either phoned home or found a way to blend into society," Brand said to Fury.

"Aliens, if anything complicates this job, it would have to be them," Fury grumbled as he slammed his hands on the communication deck.

"Well, it is my job, and it is extremely complicated," Abigail said as she looked at Fury. "I will keep you posted for anything out of the ordinary."

"I hope you do," Fury replied immediately and Abigail gave a sardonic smile towards Fury.

"I wouldn't worry, Agent Danvers is the best, she'll get to the bottom of this," Abigail said to him but she had another piece of information that she was sure that Fury might find a bit alarming. "There are rumors that HYDRA has picked up an alien ship of unknown origins, at least that's what the informant told us."

"Well that's not the news I wanted to hear," Fury grumbled and Brand smirked at the thought of that.

"No, I really hoped not," Brand answered him as she looked forward, staring Fury in his one eye. "But the good news is that they have not been able to get the ship open. The bad news is…..well it may have arrived with at least two or three years after the incident with Zod."

That brought more questions than it did answers as far as Nick Fury was concerned. There was also the growing number of mutants out there that kept him up at night and caused him to sleep soundly.

"Do you think that it was some kind of advanced invasion force?" Fury asked.

"I don't think so, otherwise, wouldn't there be more than one ship?" Brand replied and Fury looked thoughtful but shook his head.

"Unless they're hidden, which I doubt, I don't think that it would be," Fury replied as he looked at Brand without even blinking. "I'll see what I can find out, we're getting closer to one of HYDRA's outposts."

There were questions and it was Nick Fury's job to get answers and to protect the world, even before they knew it. He knew that the threats were getting more dangerous and even SHIELD was hard placed to play catch up.

The world needed protectors, even if they were ones who broke every single rule in the book including rules that Fury couldn't.

**To Be Continued. **


	5. Ceremony

**Chapter Five: "Ceremony."**

Kal thought that things were getting extremely interesting with his life in Nova-Roma, especially ever since he got to be an active participate in the daily orgies. There were any number of women who were willing to give their bodies to their Sun God, their Star Child.

"You deserve this honor, Kal-El,' Lara told him and there was no denying what was in his eyes. He knew how much he deserved it, there was really no needed to say anything more.

"Believe me, Mother, I know," Kal whispered and Lara was wrapped in the cult of personality that Kal-El had going for him just as much as anyone else. Nova-Roma was an amazing civilization as well and there was a brand new statue.

"By the creator, that is even bigger than the last one," Amara said as she looked at Kal. "But the question is, is it correct?"

"Well whilst we strike for accuracy, there are instances where we best be careful not to get things too accurate," Selene said as she turned up, joining her granddaughter and Kal. Queen Julianna of Nova-Roma turned up as well.

"Kal-El, it is an honor," The Queen said as she looked at the future king and queen of Nova-Roma.

"Your Majesty, as beautiful as always," Kal said as he took her hand and gave her a brief kiss on it. That caused the woman to be pleased at the attention that she received from their god, the future ruler of Nova-Roma.

"You are quite handsome yourself Kal-El," Julianna said as she looked over the young man.

"You are welcome to join us tonight, mother," Amara said to her.

"Well, what makes you think that I have not already invited myself?" Julianna asked her daughter haughtily and the two ladies looked at each other.

"Break it up or neither of you will be getting your rewards," Selene said as she looked at both of them and the Queen and Princess crossed their legs, suddenly becoming extremely pouty. "Although naturally, I'm sure that Kal-El will be making his rounds around the island. It is not every day a young man turns eighteen."

"No it isn't,' Kal said, it just seemed like yesterday where he was getting trained officially and he looked over. "Well, the White Queen of the Hellfire Club."

"Kal-El, greetings," Emma said as she leaned forward and kissed her lover. The blonde felt his firm body pressed against her. "And you are my future Black King, so we're going to be seeing a lot more of each other after tonight."

"Yes," Kal agreed, the Hellfire Club was about ready to be taken to an entirely new level, he can feel it.

"And naturally, your coronation will be celebrated," Emma whispered and Selene nodded as the two of them stood on either side.

"The uniforms will be required," Kal said and Emma nodded.

"Naturally, but don't expect them to stay on for too long," Emma replied and there was a lot of laughter from all of them. "But I should not keep you from your exploration of the island."

"We have all of the time in the world in the future," Kal whispered and Emma could barely keep the smile off of her face as she nodded.

"We do," she agreed as she leaned and kissed Kal. She had been going to college and had recruited a few well connected females. It was all about forging business contacts for her Black King. If she could get those two from killing each other on sheer principle, then they would serve Kal well.

"Well, you can't deny her loyalty," Amara admitted grudgingly. There were a lot of times where she did not like Emma but there was one thing that she could not deny about her and that was the fact that she was loyal to the cause and loyal to Kal.

"No, that's not something that can be denied," Kal admitted as he held Amara in close to him. The brunette smirked as she looked at him. "So shall we, my lady?"

"I would be insulted if you didn't lead the way," she offered, locking arms with him as the two of them made their way down the winding staircase of the imperial palace. There was really no question about it, things were completely beautiful.

The two of them settled down from where they sat, as the Queen got up to her feet to make a speech. She was hailed by her subjects and there was no denying the fact that she had a smile on her face.

"Ladies and gentlemen of Nova-Roma, welcome, today is a special day, and a day that you will all remember for the future of this great country," Julianna said as she watched everyone around them. There was a sense that they were eating out of the palm of her hand. It was rough to rule things in absence of her husband. "You have gone seventeen years without a king, but that time is reaching an end. My daughter and her future husband will rule over Nova-Roma, and will continue to allow this country to reach the strides that it should. It is an amazing civilization and one that should remain far and beyond anything else in the entire world."

Generous applause came up and they were nearly in awe with Kal and Amara sitting there in greater prominence. Selene was nearby as well but for once, she took a back seat to the insanity that was to come.

"Today, we're going to bring about a new age to this island, and I present to you, Kal-El," Julianna said. "By most laws, he is an adult on this day, and truly today is a day where another chapter of his life should be celebrated."

Kal made his way to the stage with supreme confidence, some might say cockiness because there was a fine line between the two.

"When I was brought here, I had no idea what I was in for," Kal said in his usual booming voice and they all laughed. "I have to say that I was in for something amazing."

They all clapped for him and Kal smirked, this was the life, there was really no question about it.

"And I'm sure that we know that none of this would be possible without Selene," Kal said as he pointed to the woman. Some inclined their heads out of respect, others out of fear. Never the less, there was no question about it, not acknowledging Selene meant that some people experienced certain doom and they did not want that.

There was the applause never the less from some and Selene leaned back, soaking it in. The dark haired woman could barely keep the smile off of her face, that only threatened to break out wider by each passing second. It was almost scary to that point.

"Thank you," Kal said to her and she nodded.

"The pleasure is all mine Kal-El, and your strength is all your own," Selene said as she looked at them. "You should all rise to your feet and pay tribute to your future king and queen of this country, Kal-El and Amara."

They got to their feet and they dropped to their knees. Most of them were women as well and Kal smiled as Lara nodded.

"Well, this will prove to be an interesting evening," Lara whispered to her son. The sun had set but the party was not over on this island paradise. Everyone was going to see something amazing, that much was for sure.

"Interesting, might not even scratch the surface," Kal whispered to his mother and his mother smiled, as she stroked her son's hair. She could not tell a lie on that front.

They all paid tribute to their future rulers, knowing that there would be amazing times ahead for all.

* * *

"So, he keeps moving out before you can get a fix on him," Fury lectured some SHIELD agents. "He would be a perfect fit for the Avengers….or SHIELD in General, if he's on the side of good."

"I don't know sir…."

"He's roughed up some criminals so far, so that's put him on my radar," Fury said with all of the temperament of a bulldog as he peered out of the windows of the Hellicarrier. His hands went behind his back as he looked out, wondering what would happen next.

"Sir we….."

"Don't bother, I'm going to find him and see what he's all about," Fury said, he could not help but think this tied into the Zod incident all of those years back. He had thought about it, some might say he even obsessed over it.

Nick Fury was like a dog with a bone and he was not about to let up with this situation, he was going to bring the man in. He could have powers, which might be a good thing. It could also be dangerous.

"He's not striking in any particular place," Fury told his men. "That could mean that he is an amateur or he's knowing that someone is on him and thus he's not leaving a pattern."

Fury's statement was directed more to himself then his men, all of them were stepping on eggshells to avoid incurring the wrath of the eagle eyed director of SHIELD. He looked at the giant map of the world. There were some areas that was outside of even SHIELD's jurisdiction, diplomatic immunity was a powerful tool and one that was abused by dictators.

"I want to find out what's happening and I want answers," Fury growled as he turned to his men. "For all that I know, someone like Doom could get his hands on this….mysterious visitor and who knows what that nutcase would do to him."

Fury also had his eyes on another growing situation, a cold war between mutants and humans were brewing. And there was another war in the mutant community that was brewing. SHIELD had been trying to keep a lid on it but there were too many incidents where people were starting to ask questions.

With the wrong people asking the wrong questions, it was a powder keg that was waiting explode. Xavier had his heart in the right place but Fury did not sleep well at night with his mutant school, training children in their powers.

And other people slept less easily. Nick Fury always did sleep with one eye open, which was all he had to spare.

"Get me Agent Romanov," Fury said to the SHIELD underling and he moved off to get the agent in question. If anyone could get to the bottom of this, it would be their best agent, the Black Widow. Especially considering that Fury was willing to bet top dollar that this mysterious vigilante was a man.

A beautiful tall woman dressed in a skin tight black body suit that clung to every curve made her way into the room. She walked, her body swaying from one side to the other. She was the type of woman who could stop traffic by her mere presence. She had gorgeous red hair, a beautiful face, stunning green eyes, high, large, breasts, a flat stomach, long legs, and a tone ass. She had the type of body was built for seduction but it was a body that was trained to be deadly.

"Colonel Fury, you wished to see me," the woman said in a voice that had slight hints of a Russian accent. Something that could get more or less pronounced depending on the type of work that she could do.

"Yes, I did," Fury said to her. "I'm sure you've heard about how my agents have not been able to pin down this mysterious super powered vigilante that has been haunting New York."

"Yes, I did," Natasha confirmed as she saw the images. "No pattern."

"That's the most vexing thing, I'm not sure if he's leaving a power on purpose or by sheer dumb luck," Fury said.

"And the motive….."

"Is another problem," Fury told her and Natasha whistled, that would be a huge problem more often than not.

"So you called me because you think that this issue….it needs a woman's touch," Natasha told him and Fury nodded, waving off her words.

"Call it whatever you want Natasha, but I called you in here, not for any kind of woman's touch but because I knew that you're able to get the job done better than most people out there," Fury told the woman and she half raised an eyebrow. "Do what you can to find him. Any kind of force that you need to use….I'll take the heat for it later. It always start innocently enough."

Fury could not help but think that someone of that would be an asset to SHIELD, providing he was on the right side.

"So you're sending me in there….against someone who could do that?" Natasha asked as she looked forward.

"You went up against the Hulk before, I don't think that this kid will be a problem," Fury said to her and Natasha was not sure why Fury seemed to think that he was a kid.

All she saw as the marks that he made from the thugs head. None of the attackers had lethal injuries, in fact, much to her amusement, they had been hit in areas where the most amount of damage could be done without killing someone. That showed an immense amount of medical knowledge that might be beyond even SHIELD.

"So, do you understand what we have to do now?" Fury asked his agent and Natasha smiled at her superior.

"Please, as you've said, this isn't my first rodeo," Natasha said and Fury waved her off. She had any number of tactics to get the information that she wanted, especially out of men.

That being said, she was going to head out right now. She had information and she would just have to be in the right place at the right time.

"Vigilante, he's worse than that Bat over in Gotham," Fury grumbled as he looked over the notes. He struck again when he had his back turned. If Fury did not know any better, he was being trolled, as the youth of today might say, but that was impossible.

* * *

"So, he's a young male, between the ages of 18 and 25?" Carol Danvers said. The beautiful blonde woman determine what she had to deal with. It had been a project that SWORD had been working on for three years but never the less, it was one that she thought it.

"So, are you trying to get facts together or try and figure out if he fits your dating profile?" Abigail Brand asked as she stood up. They had nothing to go through, other than this one brief one second shot of a black blur. They tried to refine it with some of the best technology known on the planet. For all they knew, he could be some giant alien blob that was here to suck their brains out.

"I'm just trying to figure out what I might be going up against, when I make first contact," Carol muttered, it was interesting that a lot of his rescues focused on women. She allowed her imagination to run wild as she wondered how many of those women got to get a closer encounter with the young man. If they did, none of them were kissing and telling or whatever they did anyway. "The problem is….he doesn't stick around long enough for a photo op. He strikes me as a man who wants to make people wonder if he exists."

"He's about as bad as that Bat in Gotham City," Brand muttered underneath her breath.

"I….he is an urban legend, I think," Carol said as she shook her head.

"You think the Bat is an urban legend, but you're working in a program where we try and find answers about aliens, including one that can move at super speed and apparently can fly faster than all radar we have," Abigail said as she raised her eyebrow.

"What kind of well adjusted person haunts the night dressed like a giant bat?" Carol asked but she was thinking about it. "Other than one who has a lot of issues."

"He….."

"Or she," Carol replied, there was no indication of the gender of this Bat-Person, if they did exist.

"Well whoever it is, they're Fury's problem," Abigail said as she looked forward. "But this young….man….he's our problem."

There was something that did come to Earth all of those years ago. The Zod debacle had been over in a flash as soon as that individual appeared. Something took him down and there were many theories but for as many theories as there were, there were in fact zero answers.

'_And there is one man out here who I think has all of the answers but he's not talking,' _Carol thought as she peered at the screen. She might have hoped that if she looked at the blur, it would have more details.

"Another sighting," Carol said, but the time she got to the plane, he would be gone.

"We're getting closer to picking up some kind of scent," Abigail said although Carol looked as if she might have disagreed. That was fine, the woman should have her doubts and be allowed to have them.

"HYDRA does have the ship," one of the agents said, rushing into the room.

"Wonderful, the Earth's greatest enemies have a ship that could have advanced alien technology aboard it," Abigail said, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. Carol placed a hand on the shoulder of her superior officer and tried to speak to her in a calm voice.

"Well if HYDRA wanted to….they would have already used it by now," Carol said and Abigail nodded. "Which means they can't."

"Which means they're going to go to the ends of the Earth to try," Abigail said and she punched up the information on HYDRA using her credentials in the SHIELD database. They had more holes in the planet than anyone could ever realize.

That meant that they had to stop HYDRA, before it was too late and the time was ticking down on the planet right now.

* * *

Kal stood over the edge of the island that he called home and Amara walked up from behind him.

"I heard something when I was in the city, there was some radio transmission," Kal told her and Amara paused. "No matter how secure the transmission is….you know that I can hear anything on Earth, if I just focus on it."

"You told me about that," Amara told him with a smile that crossed her face as she placed her arms around Kal and hung lazily around his neck. "But what did you hear that made you….well I'll be honest….you look kind of weirded out."

"That's because I'm kind of very weirded out," Kal told her and Amara hung her mouth open, there was one sound that escaped her mouth and that was a solid "oh". Kal figured that he would tell her even more, or at least as much as he could say. "It's….well there's a rumor regarding that there is an alien ship that landed here shortly after I did. They haven't been able to find it."

"And you're thinking what if it's….what if it's someone like you?" Amara asked and Kal nodded.

"It could be someone like me, but friend or enemy?" Kal asked. He did not remember Zod but the stories painted a vivid picture If there was someone like Zod with that level of power, then it was dangerous. "I need to find out where they are. Someone called HYDRA has it…."

"That might not be a good thing."

Selene stood outside of the island, dressed in a casual black top that showcased a hint of her cleavage, and tight black pants. She did not wear any shoes as she walked across the sand beaches. She greeted what was technically now the King and Queen of Nova-Roma, and Kal was the King of many things, now the Black King of the Hellfire Club.

"HYDRA….they've been around for a long time, although they were their most active during the second world war," Selene explained to two young adults who watched her. "And now…they've been around. I've had dealings with them in the past."

Kal smiled, Selene had dealings with a lot of people. With what she did, she could not help but have many dealings.

"Yes but that's….."

"If they have this ship, it could mean trouble, depending on whom or what is aboard," Selene said as she stepped forward and placed her hand on Kal's cheek.

"It's important that I find the ship and get it out of their hands….."

"Before HYDRA, SHIELD, or anyone else messes with it, or the cargo," Selene whispered to Kal, ensuring that he understood and being a sharp young man, he did better than most. The two exchanged a smile. "There could be something interesting inside that ship….something of value."

"Well, now I'm interesting," Kal whispered and Selene smiled as she leaned down, planting her lips upon Kal's in a kiss that said so much indeed.

"I'll be in my quarters if you require anything," Selene said as she walked off.

"That sound like an invitation to me," Amara whispered to Kal as the two sat down. Amara leaned against him, as Kal placed his hands on the smooth stomach of the girl.

"With Selene, it likely was and not a too subtle one," Kal said and Amara smiled.

"And you're the only one who could get away with teasing her, most men who did that, they would have their heads mounted up on a pike," Amara said as she looked around. "Although there are rumors that the last man who tried to do something like that did in fact have his head placed on a pike, somewhere on the island."

"Did you see it?" Kal asked her and she shook her head.

"Did you?"

"No, I wonder if it is one of those stories told to people to scare them about the big bad Selene," Kal whispered as he kissed the back of her neck and he pulled out the newspaper that he borrowed on his way back from New York. It was something that a thug had, so he figured that he wasn't going to need to read it where he was going.

"Anything good in the news?" Amara asked.

"More mayhem, more suffering, more talk about the mysterious savior that has made criminals sleep with one eye open in New York and other parts of the East Coast,' Kal said. "And….well that's interesting, Gotham City….has it's own protector."

"Oh, I've heard of Gotham, it sounds like an awful place to live," Amara said to Kal. "Doesn't your….hacker friend live there?"

"Yes, Oracle," Kal said to her, confirming.

"Obviously not her real name," Amara said with a smile.

"Well, yes," Kal replied, she was good at concealing her identity, but she had helped him gather incriminating information for several business rivals. She did knew where a lot of the skeletons were buried in Gotham City and a lot of unsavory types did business there. He wondered if his mysterious Oracle had contacts higher up.

"A Bat?" Amara asked.

"Well, someone who dressed up like a bat and prowls the night, they might have a few issues," Kal said and Amara raised her eyebrow.

"And you don't….?"

"Never said I didn't," Kal replied without missing a beat.

"Fair….what was that?"

There was an explosion off of the island that jarred both of them and they could see something floating in the air.

There was metal and lots of it.

**To Be Continued. **


	6. Unveiling

**Chapter Six: Unveiling. **

Flying metal attracted Kal as he tried to look for the source off of the edge of the island. There was the sounds of battle. From what he could see, there were two sides fighting over each other. There were many islands close enough where his super hearing could pick things up.

"Kal, what is it?" Amara asked and Kal leaned forward. His vision could see things ten times further, at least. Perhaps the factor was even stronger when you thought about it. Regardless, the young man craned his neck as he continued to look forward.

There was the sounds of combat that continued to kick up and Kal could see them. There were two groups, one on either side. The ring leader was a man in a purple and red outfit, wearing a helmet. He had white hair that poked from the mask although his glowing red eyes showed a hint of manevolent nature.

He caused more pieces of metal to fly up into the air.

'_Well that solves that,' _Kal thought but he kept frowning. He wondered as well.

A young man dressed in black with dark hair, firing laser beams from his eye dodged the attack. It was a chaotic situation and there were a lot of shouts.

"Bobby…..decoy, Warren swoop in from behind, Jean…"

The young man obviously had been put in charge as a leader but because of his inexperience or perhaps some other hang up, he was faulty. He seemed to realize that his plan was not done all that well.

'_Interesting,' _Kal thought, hovering out of sight from the battle. He could see a dark haired female of about fifteen or sixteen ,dressed in a crimson one piece suit with a headdress on. Her breasts were a fair size and the outfit pushed them up into greater prominence. Her bare legs flashed an amazing amount of skin and thigh high crimson boots picked things up immediately.

Kal could see another female, dressed in a green suit with a mask on. Despite the inheriting absurdity of the outfit, the redhead was fairly attractive. Kal could see that much and by taking a quick peak with his X-Ray vision, he could see a lot more of the two females on the island.

Then he saw a bit too much of that large thing, a man who looked about four hundred or so pounds. He had been struck by a blast but he laughed it off.

"Tickles."

"Blob, don't stand there, crush them," the helmet man stated and Kal could see an explosion that temporarily distracted him. There was something on that island.

The sounds of helicopters indicated that Kal would have to cut this little meeting short as he returned the island.

"There's a war brewing," Kal whispered to Amara and she nodded.

"Selene was right then," Amara said, not that she was surprised. Selene had that ability to predict things. "So what are you going to do about this?"

"Well the government's getting involved," Kal said, he would like to avoid a confrontation with them as long as he could, if he could help it. The fact that they had a hint that he might exist was more than enough.

He could see both sides scattering ,obviously this was a battle that would return before too long. And Kal would be keeping an eye out for it.

Right now, he had a ship that was in the cross hairs and that was what he was going to go for.

* * *

Natasha Romanov was famed for her work as a spy and she also had this uncanny ability to see things that others might have skipped. What she saw right there was a young man who hid in the shadows for a brief second and disappeared.

He was so fast that she was pretty sure that no radar picked him up.

"Did any of you see anything?" Natasha asked and they all shook their heads.

"The mutants escaped, but that's….."

"Don't mind that for now, Fury has both sides monitored," Natasha said, this entire X-Men against Brotherhood fight was getting to be extremely dangerous and innocent humans were being sucked into the crossfire.

She looked up, there were a couple of islands nearby, but they were off limits officially to SHIELD. To get in there, she would have to do things off of the books, without any SHIELD back up. Not the first time that she did something like that mind you, but still…..she would prefer if she did not have to do that.

The redhead stepped forward as one of the guards laid on the ground. She saw a lump on his head.

"Concussion, he might not even recall what happened," Natasha whispered and the men nodded as they combed the area for any other victims, survivors, or witnesses.

She could sense that there was something in the wind.

"Colonel Fury….they got away,' Natasha said as she looked over her shoulder, once again she could not shake off the sense that something was keeping an eye on them.

"I figured as much, Magneto has been eluding capture for three years and now he's recruited his Brotherhood, he's going to have people to hear his gospel," Fury said and he sighed.

"And about Xavier….."

"I don't like it, him training students to utilize mutant abilities, it raises too many questions," Fury said, and that was always a problem regarding SHIELD, Xavier and his school. It was a royal pain. "Just keep your head above the water, Natasha and everything will be….."

"I know," Natasha responded, she was not any stranger to this and she kept searching the island.

"I saw him….he flew….I can't believe it," one of the men babbled as he looked around. He seemed to be to the point of madness, and strictly speaking Natasha wondered if she should take that all that seriously.

That being said, she was at least taking what he said into deep consideration. The man's head nodded up and down, as there was something that oozed out of the side of his mouth. Was it blood? She didn't know.

"Who did you see?" the Russian spy asked coolly and calmly. She did not break character or break eye contact.

"I saw him….he was amazing….it was just like they said…..incredible," the man babbled and Natasha turned around to consult with her team.

"Not making any sense, but at the same time, making too much sense," Natasha grumbled. Her hunch was right, there was someone here. She could feel her face scrunch up as she attempted to concentrate, as hard as that might have been.

She was trying not to lose all sense of what was happening around her, but that was easier said than done. The redhead leaned over her shoulder and saw something interesting.

There was a temple door that had been broken open halfway on the island.

"I think that I found what Magneto was trying to get," Natasha said and she stepped inside it. What she saw was shocking or perhaps to make things more accurate, she was shocked about what she didn't see inside the temple.

There was absolutely nothing inside and the redhead blinked suddenly. She did so once, then twice, and then three times.

She didn't like the looks of this and she turned over her shoulder to speak to her men.

"See if he lifted it, and what he lifted, interview everyone, leave no stone unturned," Natasha said.

* * *

**Do you think that it might be some kind of government craft?**

Kal sat down on the computer, talking with his contact over the computer.

**No, I don't think it's a government craft….well maybe not from this government. What can you uncover about HYDRA.**

There was a lengthy pause and the person on the other end seemed to be considering something.

**Just one second.**

Kal waited, keep his ear open. He could pick up some weird snatches of some kind of radio transmission. That was how he developed his super hearing, or at least how he was inspired to develop his super hearing. There was a radio transmission that he kept picking it up.

"Nothing on the island…."

"It was moved a long time ago….."

"It just means that Magneto will still be after it….."

"Don't worry, we'll find it, track it down…..there's nowhere it could go now."

'_Interesting, very interesting,' _Kal thought to himself as he crossed his arms and pondered what he could do.

"Long night?" Emma asked as she peaked into the room.

"I'm trying to dig up information on HYDRA," Kal told her and she nodded.

"I heard from Selene about the ship….she does have one contact in HYDRA, but that particular branch….she doesn't have anything to do with, although she's trying to find out more," Emma said as she calmly sat on Kal's lap. Kal pulled the older blonde into a deep brace. "Most people would not be this proactive and…."

"Emma," Kal whispered and Emma nodded as Kal listened.

"He went on one of the islands, although I'm not sure which one…..there are many…."

"That's an entire quagmire where SHIELD can't get involved, Natasha. You know what you have to do if you think that you can presue a lead."

"It's a lot better to ask for forgiveness than for permission."

"Exactly."

"They have a good idea where I am," Kal whispered to Emma and Emma squirmed in his lap, looking kind of surprised about this revelation.

"They do….well that could be serious," Emma said as she leaned her head back with Kal slowly stroking her hair.

"They have a good idea, but finding me, and capturing me are two different things," Kal said and he smiled. "The agent they're sending after me is female."

"I do wonder who will be captured then," Emma said to Kal and the young man grinned as he continued to play with Emma's hair. Things were getting a bit heated although it was business before pleasure.

The message that came back on the computer, and Kal turned his attention fully on it.

**Well as you might expect, HYDRA is a major terrorist organization. They have been around in some form or another for hundreds of years. There most recent form was established by the Red Skull during the second World War.**

Kal typed a message back at her.

**They we always after the supernatural and things that were out of this world. If this rumor that they have an alien ship is true, then they would be doing anything that they could to open it. If what I could find about them is true….they wouldn't be sitting pretty. There would be major terrorist attacks an entirely different scale. **

_Which means we have to find the ship before they get it open. _

**Easier said that done, given the fact that HYDRA is staying a few steps ahead of the super spies. Some geek with an Internet connection might not have that good of an idea.**

_Surely you have some kind of idea._

The pause was long and Kal waited patiently. More of a message appeared on the screen.

**Their last known sighting was in the Nevada Desert, there are rumors of all sorts of tests for weapons. I'm sure that you've heard of Area 51?**

_Yes._

**Rumors that HYDRA has a base close enough to the area. There are those who are in the United States Government who was sympathetic to the cause. **

Kal thought about the situation and wondered if that search was going to bare fruit. He got some more information and he would have to think things through clearly.

If he needed an army, well he had one. It would be tricky getting inside the country but it wasn't necessarily impossible.

* * *

Kal wondered if he stepped out of the frying pan and into the fire. He would find out pretty soon as he followed the information that he had. For all he knew, the information could be completely out of date and these HYDRA goons would have left the building already.

'_Only one way to find out.'_

He thought this matter over and figured out one thing. He would have to find facts and then he would return with help. Providing the ship was not some kind of rumor.

Kal arrived, seeing three uniformed men standing outside of the gate. They were looking around, peering over their shoulders.

'_Shouldn't be too easy to get one past them,' _Kal thought. He squinted his eyes and fired, expertly sending his heat vision towards an area of bush.

Two of them scrambled towards the bush, startled by the sudden fire. That caused Kal to slip into the gates and rush forward.

He stopped and listened for something. There was something that was on the other side of a cave.

It was a secret location and Kal continued to press forward, entering the cave.

He hovered behind a ledge as he saw a group of armored men dressed in green. They had the unmistakable uniform of HYDRA as they marched back and forth. There were high tech weapons over their shoulder.

'_And to think, they're doing this all under the nose of the government,' _he thought as he mentally tried to do a head count of what he had to do. His eyes narrowed as he did a head count. There were twelve of them.

He could take them out easily but that would raise an alarm to let him know that they were here. He could see security spots, cameras that were hidden further into the base. The glowing light from the camera was something that he kept a closer look at.

Kal wondered if he could disable it without triggering the alarm.

"Are you in?"

"Yes, I'm in," Kal whispered, careful not to let anyone see them.

"Did you see anything?" Lara asked her son, she wondered if there was anything from Krypton there. It would be extremely valuable if he could find it.

"Other than a mess of HYDRA goons, nothing," he whispered, they moved away and Kal searched for blind spots in the complex. "I'll keep you posted."

"Over and out," Lara agreed as the communication link went dead and Kal gingerly lowered himself to the ground.

The system failed every ninety seconds for about three. It needed to recharge. It was a blind spot that most would have not been able to do.

Most people did not have super speed. Kal rushed forward and made it to the next room.

He could see several weapons that were in development. There was enough hardware in here to overthrow a small country, or maybe even a large one. It depended on how creativitely someone wanted to use it.

Kal stepped lightly as he heard more voices.

"SHIELD knows….."

"Well, they might think that they know but they won't figure things out until it's much too late."

An alluring woman turned up, green hair framing half of her face. She had vibrant green eyes and a tight green body suit that wrapped around her body, showing every single curve of it. An amazing set of breasts topped up the outfit, along with a shapely ass, and long dazzling legs. Kal was not going to lie, she looked like the best potential recruitment plan that HYDRA had to offer.

'_Wow,' _he thought to himself as he saw her tight ass swaying before him. There was no question about it, he was momentarily distracted.

"Viper, don't forget that if SHIELD knows, others might find out….maybe we need to remove the ship….."

"Keep the ship here, we've been under Fury's oversize nose for about three years, he already combed over the area, he hasn't found anything yet, and he never well."

'_Well maybe not this Fury, but I'm another matter entirely.'_

Kal thought this thought as he wanted to see if this woman would lead him to the ship. She was coming his way, well kind of.

"Make sure that there is no one here," Viper said to the HYDRA goons and they nodded, looking around.

Kal was into the next room before they could search his hiding place. He avoided the obstacles despite being at super speed, which made it even more of an accomplishment.

All he had to do was wait into the shadows and see what would happen next.

Kal turned around and could see that the next room, there was about three dozen HYDRA goons, all armed. In the middle of the room was a pair of scientists who worked on a ship.

"It's here," Kal whispered as he got in touch with home base.

He was about to get out of there but he could hear the sound of a laser cocked at the back of his head. Turning around, Kal caught the arm before it could fire at him.

He broke every bone in the HYDRA goon's arm and hurled him through a glass window, several feet below. The glass cut into his chest and back as he landed.

Viper stepped forward, she thought that she sensed an intruder and quite the intruder as well.

"All HYDRA personel to base, we have an intruder….."

Kal disabled her communicator and then chained her against the wall in one fluid motion.

"Well, looks like I have you at my mercy," Kal said and then were footsteps coming from all directions.

Viper's face turned into a smoldering smile and she said one word. "We'll see….we'll see."

The goons charged forward but Kal avoided their attacks one at a time. He plowed one of them head first into the wall and they fired upon him.

Their laser blasts did no harm to him. He blew his super breath and sent them all flying like a cyclone.

* * *

Kal arrived in the lab after knocking around the HYDRA goons. He was not going to lie, he was excited or perhaps a bit nervous. His mother and he…..well they were the only ones that were left of their kind.

To think that there was potentially another one out there, he was interested by this. He entertained the possibility that the person in the ship could be a dangerous criminal that he would have to put down just like his mother did with Zod. He hoped not.

It was standard Kryptonian design, something that was beyond the ability of most to figure out how to open. All Kal had to do was find a way to open up the ship and he would be allowed inside.

"Step away from the ship and no one needs to get hurt."

Viper freed herself and there were more HYDRA goons, holding their guns on Kal.

"Really, you think that those will hurt me?" Kal asked and sure enough, he emphasized his point by using his heat vision to cut through the guns. He nearly took out the arm of one of the terrorists. "I'm here to claim what is mine."

"Anything in this base belongs to HYDRA, fire the grenades."

The grenades landed on the ground and delivered a stun blast that would have killed a human being. Kal stood there, his jacket was a bit singed but other than that, he stood there, and smiled.

"I've got to….."

"Cowards get back here!" Viper yelled as Kal once again forced her up against the wall. She hated the excitement that she was feeling by having her back up against the wall this much, so much that she was overpowered.

"Well, they're all running out, aren't they?" Kal asked to her and Viper shook her head, fury going through her eyes. "You have about five or six poisons on you right now, all of them useless when going up against me."

Viper swallowed the lump in her throat and felt more shivers going through her spine. Once again he backed off but there was an instant where he looked towards her eyes.

"You better stay away from me, you have no idea what you're dealing with."

More HYDRA goons scrambled down the stairs and Kal was more amused than he was annoyed. Although they were pushing things a little bit with him.

"Seriously, you don't know what you're going up against, do you?" Kal asked, crossing his arms. Viper held her hand in the air and her men pointed weapons at Kal. For a wild instant, he thought that they were going to fire. "The clock is ticking, isn't it?"

"Attack him," Viper said but Kal darted at them, knocking them over. It was comical to see a group of goons fall line nine pins, dropping to the ground.

Viper stepped out, she had one more weapon up her sleeve. She was not sure if this was a good idea to let this out of the box just yet.

"Attack," Viper whispered as a masked female stepped forward. She was dressed all in black and she turned to Viper as if she was going to resist the commands. "ATTACK"

A shock to the base of her skull caused the girl to rush forward in feral fury. Kal stood there, amused by her attacks.

That was until claws, metal claws impacted the side of his wrist. Those claws actually hurt.

"Okay, you're not fooling around, well, I don't think I can fool around that much either," Kal said, punting her through the wall at a force that would kill a normal person.

She got up to her feet, turning her neck, and cracking it.

"Guess I should have hit you harder, then?" Kal asked and she went towards him but Kal dodged the attack and she returned fire.

She was pretty brutal and acrobatic as well. Her claws swiped against his chest but he grabbed her.

"Stop that," he demanded and he headbutted her. She crumpled down onto the ground but she was not out.

There was also a claw protruding from her foot and Kal had to avoid getting kicked in a certain area where it would make his life a bit more miserable. He caught her leg and super sped her across the room, causing her to become dizzy and hurled her out of the open window.

Viper watched, non plussed but her weapon returned, climbing up the building and her mask had been knocked off in the attack. She looked like a fairly attractive teenage girl with dark hair and gorgeous blue eyes. Her face was conflicted.

"Don't make this any harder than it is," she growled, rushing Kal but he dodged.

"What is a hot girl like you getting mixed up in something like this?"

"Don't start," she growled, shaking her head. It felt like it was being split and she tried to attack him again and again but she had never fought anyone who could match her in skills.

"Start what?" Kal asked with a smile as he dodged her attempts to hit him. "Am I in your head? Would you rather me be elsewhere in your body?"

She shook her head, and once again tried to slash his face but he grabbed her arms and forced her down onto the ground. She was rammed face first into the ground with Kal on top of her.

"Help," she whispered, shaking her head, and she went back into rage Mcstabbytime mode.

'_Going to suck right about now….got to knock her out.'_

Kal rammed the girl into the ship hard but the ship's locks disengaged.

Viper's face contorted into a grin as she watched the ship open up. Who knew it would be that easy?

The ship opened up and a bright light enveloped the lab. Even the claw girl stopped with her frantic efforts to stab Kal.

Stepping from the ship was a gorgeous blonde girl of about sixteen years old and Kal noticed straight away that she did not have a stitch of clothing on her body. Her eyes flashed open in anger as she looked around.

"Where am I?"

**To Be Continued**


	7. Spotted

**Chapter Seven: Spotted. **

Kal's eyes followed the female who was on the edge of the ship and even the female with the claws stopped.

Viper's mouth widened from her position, there she was and she watched the HYDRA agents move in for the kill.

The girl's eyes lit up and shot some uncontrolled heat vision at the HYDRA goons. They screamed as they burned. She had powers but the problem was she was confused and unable to control them. The fact that she was trapped in the ship for that long did not cure her of being delirious.

Kal grabbed the girl around the waist and held her. The fact his hands brushed against her bare body was kind of distracting but he had been taught focus.

"Close your eyes, breath, relax….."

Kal realized how much easier said than done it was when the goons tried to fire on him once again. Sighing, he pursed his lips and sent some super breath, blowing them into the walls. The goons hit the wall, the sounds of broken bones.

"Stop them both!" Viper ordered her pet and she rushed forward.

Kal once again dodged her attacks, the claws bouncing off of the ground. The blonde looked up wildly.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm getting us both out of here," Kal said as he flicked the girl off to the side with one finger. The blonde's eyes began to heat up once again. "Just keep your eyes closed and your head down….."

The yellow sun shined brightly and her body sized up with the accumulation of the power that she experienced.

"Activate the defenses, do not let them to escape!"

Kal wished that could not leave the ship unintended but it sealed itself the moment that the occupant escaped. HYDRA followed him with laser like focus.

"Just hang on," Kal whispered but the blonde wondered why he could fly…..well maybe she should be able to fly as well.

The roof burst open and Kal managed to expertly sent the debris down, taking the HYDRA goons down to the ground. The blonde was draped in his arms as Kal flew up, up, and away.

There was a dark clad figure flying through the air at him, claws extended, swiping at his foot.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," Kal grumbled and he turned around, circling back again. The girl spiraled down to the ground, overshooting him.

She tried to keep him from escaping.

"My ship, we've got to get my ship," the blonde said frantically as she tried to break free from his grip.

She was not flying, she fell. Kal swooped back in, catching her. The yellow sunlight, she absorbed some of it through her ship but the fact that she was in stasis apparently had some negative side effects.

"We'll come back for it, I need to get you to a safe place….."

"No, we need to get my ship, if they find a way to open it up….."

"I know, trust me," Kal replied, he didn't like this any more than she did. Kal kept flying, the fact that he had a naked blonde in his arms was not inconspicuous at all. "Just, trust me."

"You keep telling me that, but I don't know," she whispered as she felt herself weakened suddenly. She wondered why she was so weak but she figured that she would find that out before too long.

"I'm getting you to a safe place, I knew about your ship….."

"I've got to stop him, I've got to stop him."

Kal could not have a chance who he had to stop because HYDRA was not about to give up their pursuit of him without a fight.

"Mother, I got the ship's occupant out, but we had to abandon the ship, and we have a problem," Kal told Lara over the communication link.

"Kal, honey, you're breaking up," Lara said and sure enough, there were a lot of static over what they were doing.

"I'm going to try to lose these guys, send back up to my location, if you can find me in time," Kal said, deciding to take the kiddy gloves off. These bastards wanted to play hard ball, well, he was going to do so in kind.

His heat vision ripped the HYDRA ship in half. The people flying the ship had ample time to escape, but whether they would make it all the way down.

Kal, holding the girl underneath one arm, lifted out his hand and punched the approaching ship, crushing it like a tin can.

Kal knew that he had a long road to where he wanted to go. If he could manage to get there, then things would be in good shape.

Easier said than done unfortunately but he had to hope that they could track him.

* * *

Lara was confident in her son's ability to get out of there but it did not change the fact that she was worried. She tried not go insane with worry even though it was harder.

"Isolate the signal and focus."

"We do have backup ready to go, although he got misdirected from the intended area," Selena said to Lara and Lara nodded her head, placing her hand underneath her chin.

The blonde woman watched, her burning blue eyes showing the determination to that her son got from her. She wondered if she should have accompanied her son but Selene told her something.

"It wasn't your fault, I thought that particular HYDRA base was less secured than it was and the fact that Kal got as far as he could is a testament to his abilities."

No weapons could hurt him but that didn't matter to Lara. That did not stop her from worrying and stop her nerves from exploding to an entirely new level. Selene grabbed Lara's hands tightly and one of her subordinates looked forward.

"We got the signal."

"Radio the backup team then," Selene said crisply and the subordinate scrambled to obey the order, knowing that she would be in trouble if she bungled this operation.

The subordinate nodded and Selene smiled. She was a bit agitated that Kal had to abandon the ship but they could reclaim it and any HYDRA resources that they can. The dark haired woman folded her arms together and Lara turned to face her.

"All we can do is keep waiting and keep waiting."

Lara nodded, she understood but she did not really like this.

"I hate this."

Selene's lips curled into a smile although it was kind of ironic. "I know and I'm sorry."

She meant that immediately with the dark haired woman pushing her hair out of her eyes. The fact that Kal was well trained made her not worry that much.

Despite thousands of years in experience, she was still not going to say that she was perfect about everything.

"Is he getting out of there alright?"

Amara stood outside of the doorway, her arms folded and a sad expression across her face. She had heard Kal's connection go dead and she really wished that someone could watch his back.

"Stay strong, he needs that more than anything."

Amara wondered if Selene was more worried than she was letting on. Valuing her life, she did not ask.

"I will."

"I know you will."

Selene waited calmly and folded her arms, and the radar that was Kal was there. It was time to see what she could do. There was only so much they can do when they were hundreds of feet in the air.

* * *

"Do you know what we're doing?"

The blonde seemed to be someone who was not going to shy away from giving any kind of opinion. Kal did respect that a lot of the time but he was never the less trying to focus.

"I've called for help…"

"After all your powers, you need….."

"I'll have this discussion later, there's someone coming," Kal said, perching her underneath her body. The ships were not HYDRA but that did not cause him to be at ease. He recognized the mark and the make of the ship. He had encountered them from afar first time.

'_Time to have those old friends get reacquainted,' _Kal thought, swerving and trying to get the HYDRA ships that he just lost.

The blonde remained quiet, she wasn't sure if she could even speak all that much. She had been in the ship for she didn't know how long. It might have been seconds from her perspective, but it just felt like a lot longer for some reason.

"Keep your head down," he whispered to her and she scowled but nodded. She did not need to be told twice, especially when a missile shot through the air.

He dodged and the missile impacted the side of the mountain. He tried to see if he could get any contact from home base. "Are you there?"

"Yes…barely, help is on the way, especially since we've got your signal," Lara said, as she folded her arms.

"Got it, keep them busy, or turn them against each other if you can," Selene said, a calm and crisp tone. This could have gone better but it could have gone worse. She wished they would have been able to get the ship out of there.

'_To the mountain,' _Kal thought to himself as he hovered, swinging his body from one side to the next and then he ducked his head, flying through the opening of the cave wall.

Once again, his heart sped up but he kept oddly calm.

They made their way into the cave and Kal sealed the opening. The blonde sank down onto the rocks, as Kal reached into his bag and dropped it down.

"These will make you less conspicuous," Kal told her and the blonde raised an eyebrow. "Trust me, as nice as your body is, I don't think that flying around naked is going to go unnoticed."

"Well you could take your clothes off and things would be even," the blonde said but never the less, she made her way through the back. "Earth fashions are kind of strange."

"Yes, they are," Kal agreed, he was not really going to disagree with her.

"You've got better reception in there, I can hear everything with better clarity," Lara said and Kal smiled.

"We should wait for things to cool down…."

"HYDRA and SHIELD are fighting each other, that'll work to your benefit," Selene said. It was actually good tactics to pit the two pursuing groups against each other.

"I figured as much," Kal said, leaning his head back and folding his arms against his chest. He smiled and waited to see what his next movement was.

The blonde stood there with a smile on her face, her X-Ray vision was starting to kick in, so she was staring at this young man from behind, getting a good look at what was underneath. She wore a black t-shirt and blue jeans. The pair of shoes did not really fit all that well, so she decided to keep them off. She was not comfortable wearing shoes that well.

"So, how long are we stuck here?"

"Not too much longer," Kal said, turning around and he looked at the blonde, who was staring him down. He could tell that she was checking him out.

"What?" she asked with a grin on her face. "You were flying around for ages with me naked, and I now got a chance to sample the goods. Do you really blame me for passing that up?"

"Not at all," Kal said, looking at her. The black shirt stretched tightly around her firm teenage breasts and he could see her nipples poking out. The moment that she moved, her shirt rode up to show her toned tummy. She was in pretty good shape and she had good genetics on her side. Her jeans fit snugly around her cute teen ass. "We'll go in a while…."

"Good," she said, she didn't like to hide. She was confused about a lot of her powers and how they worked. As much as she practiced in training simulators and read up about the theory, actually experiencing them with yellow solar radiation, that was two things entirely.

"Get ready to move."

She smiled, perhaps this time she could fly on her own. That easier said than done.

* * *

Natasha thought that entire mission could have gone a lot better, but she ran head on into HYDRA. A HYDRA she should note, that was stirred up like a nest of hornets. The spy hung on and knew that this was a bumpy ride.

"I think someone beat us to the ship," Natasha said but then she amended that statement. "I know someone beat us to the ship."

"Who?" Fury demanded and Natasha's face shifted into a smile.

"Who do you think?"

That statement was as cross as cross could be and Fury understood how tense the situation was. Especially considering that the ricochet of laser blasters from HYDRA was on the SHIELD ships. Natasha gritted her teeth and pulled the dial of the ship. The shields popped up and just in time, she needed to get underneath the ship.

"The ship, if HYDRA got it open….."

"I think that they did," Natasha said, call it a crazy hunch, call it whatever, but that ship was in fact open. The woman turned her head around from one direction, seeing them out of what might have been her blind spots. She deployed a weapon.

The loud explosions behind her indicated that they in fact had contact. Dipping the ship down, she tried to make her way through the HYDRA base. Debris and smoke blocked her efforts to move forward but Natasha experienced far worse.

"So far, a lot of the HYDRA men and women are down, that should make my job a lot easier," Natasha said, as she landed. It was rough but doable.

Natasha skidded over the debris, with her fellow SHIELD agents following her. They held their weapons up as they marched into the complex.

The doors were blocked by debris, not a problem. Natasha climbed her way in, seeing that there was a half cracked window.

"Follow my lead," Natasha said as she dropped down. She could see the crushed and battered bodies of several HYDRA grunts. The people who got away, it was not a clean get away.

Natasha turned around and she could see it rushing her. Silver claws were extended, her eyes were widened, and her teeth were bared.

She was reminded of an old friend of hers, but it was not time to go down memory lane. The claws were this close to impacting the side of her head and Natasha arched her back, to dodge the attack. The claws clanged against the side of the wall.

"Don't….."

She swiped at Natasha and the redhead could feel her leave her body. The SHIELD agents scrambled in and fired at her.

Natasha reached behind her back and tried to find a way to stun her. She looked to be brainwashed, conditioned by HYDRA. She zapped the girl with a bolt of electricity but that proved to only enrage her.

The redhead Russian spy cracked back against the wall and she grabbed her around the head, forcing her face first against the ground. The clawed foot was nearly inches away from her throat.

"Well, look what SHIELD sent here," Viper said as she stepped forward, holding a large cannon over her shoulder. "Natasha…..it's been too long."

"Long….enough," Natasha said as the SHIELD agents stood ,their weapons locked and ready. The claw was inches away from impacting her throat.

"Well, I remember your days, where you spied on HYDRA for Fury, but I'm not sure you know what side you're on any more," Viper said as she flickered a dagger. All she had to do was snap her fingers and her attack dog would strike. "I'm not sure if you know whether you're coming or going half of the time. The Black Widow never knows when she'll strike, whether she'll bite her next victim."

Viper was a shot away form getting struck by Natasha.

"Hurt me, and that throat gets cut open and Fury has a mess to clean up," Viper whispered as the girl stepped back. "Let her up X-23."

"You're going to let me up?"

Natasha seriously questioned Viper's sanity right about now but she realized that the HYDRA representative rarely did anything for a reason. She thought that she was going to be let up only to be shot in the head.

"Yes, I'm going to let you up," Viper said, extending her hand quite mockingly for Natasha. "You know, you're wise not to trust me….."

"Your handshake might as well be poison," Natasha spat as she got up to her feet and Viper tossed her hair, giving an amused round of laughter.

"All of the people that you've betrayed Widow, and you say that my handshake is poison. Those who live in glass houses should never be the ones to cast a stone."

"You'd know about that, wouldn't you?" Black Widow asked as she stared her adversary down but amusement flickered through Viper's face.

"Standing eye to eye with me might cause you to go blind my precious little spider," Viper whispered in a sinister voice as she tapped her adversary on the side of her head. "But we've got a mutual problem. Some…..super human decided to trash my complex."

"You have my deepest sympathies," Natasha snapped dryly as she watched girl in the shadows. She was docile but she could snap at any time.

A loud explosion was Natasha's cue and her backup was finally there. It couldn't have happened soon enough for her.

* * *

"Amazing."

The blonde looked around, they were hovering over Nova-Roma, and the two of them dropped down onto the ground right outside of the gates.

"Security is likely heightened because I'm missing," Kal told her and her eyes snapped towards him, an inquisitive expression etched in them.

"Mind if I ask….."

"I rule things in this kingdom," Kal informed her and the blonde smiled.

"So you would likely have a collective given that you're a ruler," the blonde said with wide eyes and a teasing smile. "You know a group of women to do your bidding and to answer you at your beck and call…."

"Yes, I'm well aware of what you're talking about," Kal told the blonde, barely able to keep the smile off of his face. "This is Nova-Roma."

"Very nice, beautiful scenery, nice architecture, and the air….it's breathable, that's never a bad thing," the blonde said, her eyes tracing over each detail. It reminded her of some more primitive models of the towers back home although she did admit that they added their own spin. Then again, the best things were always something that had a new spin on an old idea. "Oh, we didn't have a chance to introduce each other, given that we were flying halfway around the world?"

"Yeah, that's a problem."

Both of them laughed and the blonde decided to get right down to business. She threw her head back with a bright smile. "My name is Kara…..and how I got here it's pretty complicated."

"I'm, Kal," Kal said to Kara, taking her hand and planting a light kiss on the top of her hand which caused her to be flushed.

Kara raised her eyebrow a moment at the name. Perhaps it was a coincidence, she wouldn't say anything. The fact that her ship was left behind worried her just a little bit. Her stomach twisted like a knot.

A chocolate skin girl with dark hair, dressed in a white half shirt and blue jean shorts without any shoes made her way down the steps. She saw Kal and there was relief that went through her face. "Oh, thank the gods…."

"And on Nova Roma, by thanking the gods, you would be thanking me, right?" Kal asked as he saw Amara standing at the top of the steps. While she did not have super speed, the girl made pretty good time getting down the steps. With one last fluid motion, her arms threw around Kal's waist and she pulled him into a hungry kiss.

Kara watched, both curious but she was sure that introductions would be in order.

"Oh, this is Kara….she's another survivor….from my homeworld," Kal said to Amara and Amara nodded. "This was a surprise….but Kara, this is Queen Amara of Nova-Roma."

"A pleasure to meet you, and hope you're enjoying your stay so far," Amara said as she reached forward but Kara grabbed Amara and kissed her slightly on top of the hand. She saw Kal do it, so she assumed that it would be appropriate Earth customs for greeting someone.

Amara did not correct her so Kara backed up and pressed on.

"Well almost getting shot at, that wasn't fun," Kara said, shaking her head. "Even though I'm not sure if bullets can hurt us."

"Only if they're made of Kryptonite," Kal said to Kara and Kara closed her eyes, confusion.

"Kry-to-night?" she asked, confused. "You're going to have to explain that one to me."

Kal did in fact do so. "Meteor rocks from the planet Krypton….when the core exploded….they became radioactive and harmful for us. There was a meteor shower that brought your ship here."

"Oh, well it's all kind of fuzzy what happened," Kara said, she was getting a slight headache. Her ship had a valuable hard drive full of information that she needed to get her hands on. While she wasn't sure that there was any computer on Earth that it could be hooked up to, the fact of the matter was it had sentimental value.

"Don't rush it, there should be no reason why you have to strain to figure out what happened," Kal told her and Kara was grateful. The circumstances of her leaving Krypton was not all that pleasant.

"Thank you," Kara said graciously and Kal took charge.

"The first thing we need to do is find you a room that you can crash in, getting your bearings, and when we all have clearer heads, we can figure out where your ship was," Kal said, without missing a beat, taking charge of the situation. "But….those HYDRA goons, they're going to be on high alert….."

"Don't forget SHIELD," Amara said and another woman greeted them.

"Kal-El, you have returned, excellent, and this must be our guest."

Kara could not believe what she heard, Kal-El….surely not?

She really hoped that if this was the case, he did not inherent any of the stupid humans taboos or hang ups because that would be fairly problematic. And if that was the case, it did drag home the point.

"This is Kara….she's another survivor….."

"Yes, and she's quite beautiful," Selene said, looking over Kara with a smile. She was a healthy teenage girl and had the potential to be quite powerful when she was trained up a bit. It shouldn't take as long as it did with Kal to get him how to master his powers, especially given the fact that Kal could assist.

"Thank you….." Kara said, not sure what to make of all of this.

"My name is Selene, I founded Nova-Roma," Selene said told Kara and the blonde's mouth hung open in not so subtle awe. "It is a pleasure to meet you darling."

"This is amazing place," Kara said, awestruck, it was more beautiful than Kandor was, before it disappeared.

"You're too kind," Selene told the blonde, taking a better look at her. "Thousands of years ago, there was a savior who would descend from the stars, that was prophesized to come here and change the world for the better."

Kara was about to react, but she saw a very familiar and friendly face sitting at the edge of the steps.

"Kara?"

**To Be Continued. **


	8. No Use in Hiding

Kara's mouth was hanging up in some kind of combination of shock, awe, and astonishment. She couldn't believe it but yet the truth was hanging out there. The blonde looked at the older blonde. "I thought….I heard….that Zod….."

"Zod did capture myself and Kal-El, but he's now gone, he's all gone," Lara said as she greeted the other blonde with a reassuring hug. "Kal-El, this is your cousin Kara….from Krypton."

"So, I've gathered," Kal replied with a smile towards the blonde and she returned fire with a smile of her own. "By blood?"

"Yes," Kara said and she looked at Kal with a half raised eyebrow. "Does it matter?"

Kal returned fire with a grin of his own. "Not in the slightest."

'_Good, because it doesn't really matter with Kryptonians like it does with humans,' _Kara thought to herself.

Lara was happy to be reunited with her niece but there was something about this that was bothering her. The blonde stared down the girl that was next to her.

"I think I've got some explaining to do," Kara said, barely able to keep the amused grin off of her face and Lara nodded slowly and surely.

"Yes, how?"

"Well, my father….he built an escape ship, I think that he was about to flee the planet himself," Kara said and there was a slight note of disgust regarding her father. Given that she blamed him for her mother's death, it was just as well. "But….I beat him to the punch, and….escaped the planet, while he was meeting with the Council. I took something belonging to my mother with me….."

"Alura, something of her's….."

"Her research, it's fascinating," Kara said and Kal looked at her with a smile on his face. "Trust me, as smart as your mother is….mine…..well no offense meant."

"Believe me, none taking, Alura taught me a lot of what I knew, but not everything that she knew," Lara said replied wistfully, brushing her hair out of her face and thinking about a long time. "So you stole Zor-El's ship….."

"I found out what happened and thought that I could find a way to Earth….to stop Zod, who knows what he could do," Kara said and Lara shook her head. "Yes, I know, sixteen year old girl against one of Krypton's greatest military leaders…..that's not going to end too well."

Selene stepped out of the shadows. "Perhaps not, but it showed that you have the determination and ambition that is needed to succeed. That's something to be valued."

"Thanks," Kara said, pleased that her entire decision was not something that went off in vain. "I….the ship got sidetracked, and the emergency stasis lock of the ship went off. Next thing I know, I was here….you know, here."

"Yes, Kara, I know," Kal said with a smile on his face and she collected her thoughts. "Your ship….."

"Could be dangerous if they toy around with it," Kara said and she was about ready to step forward but Lara grabbed her gently around the arm.

"Is there some kind of failsafe override on it where we can destroy the ship?"

"Yes, yes," Kara said as she racked her head about it. She looked nervous and it was obvious why pretty soon. "The problem is we have to get close enough to override it and that's a problem….."

"It might be," Kal agreed, placing his hand gently on the side of Kara's face and she smiled at him. "But….we got in there once before…..well I did."

"Yes, but now HYDRA, SHIELD, and everyone else will be roaming around there, it will be a madhouse," Amara warned them and Kal looked at his lover with a calculating look on his face. She did not know whether to be excited or scared.

"Well, we're going to have to find a way to disable HYDRA's defenses and screw with SHIELD in the process," Kal told her and he moved forward.

"Doe she always do that?" Kara asked, wonderment going through her eyes and Amara patted her on the elbow.

"Not all of the time, honey, but she does it enough," Amara said to the blonde Kryptonian, liking the fact that the female was here more and more. "It was amazing, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Kara said but there was a second of sorrow in her eyes. It was over now and the blonde stood there, hoping against all hope that she would fit into their new world.

"It's always hard starting over," Selene said and Kara looked at her, opening her mouth halfway open. "I've been in the same place you were more times than I've cared to count."

Kara nodded and Lara placed her arm around them, as they waited for Kal to return.

"Okay, it's now or never."

Words that underlined what was happening had never been spoken more clearly.

* * *

"A close shave would be putting things a bit mildly and also a bit personally," Natasha said as she massaged her cheek and rubbed it. The redhead thought that the battle could have gone completely wrong but at the same time, she escaped with her life. Surely that was a good thing.

"And HYDRA will only double its security," Fury grumbled, slamming his fist down upon the console and once again, he thought that he was going to lose his mind. "So you're saying that they have a clone…."

"Yes of Wolverine, well I assume that she is, she could just be given his powers," Natasha admitted and Fury looked grave.

Needless to say, a hormonal teenage girl with Wolverine's temperament and rage issues did not present a good situation for him and SHIELD. The type of damage control that he would have to enact was not looking that favorable.

"Keep your eyes peeled," Fury said and Natasha raised an eyebrow, opening her eyes. "Viper has her own personal attack dog and where there's Viper…..there might be others that are close behind."

They both knew who Fury was talking about. The problem was that while the official files stated that he died, there was a problem with that. SHIELD had been around for too long to accept the word that someone was dead. Especially without a body.

"That ship….we know that HYDRA will protect it with their lives," Fury said and Natasha loaded up the weapon, nodded. "You have to acquire it, at all costs."

"Don't worry, I intend to," Natasha said and she looked at Fury.

"Our little friend was close by, you'd want to get a word with him, any force that you can use to get him to come with you for a chat with SHIELD, do so."

Natasha read between the lines and realized that there might not be any force that she could use that could take him down.

"He could be an asset for SHIELD or he could be its biggest liability, we need to know the truth," Fury said as the team that he sent mobilized on the ground. "I don't need to tell you what's on the line, do I?"

"No, I understand," Natasha said in a brisk and curt voice. Her eyes focused at the front entrance with a scary razor sharp focus that would terrify most of everyone who had stumbled across it.

"Then, I'll leave you to your work, Fury out," Fury said and he checked out, leaving Natasha there and alone on the other end.

Natasha held the gun in her hand, it carefully rested between her, she was ready to fire. It packed a punch but would that punch be enough to bring down their flying friend? Would that punch be enough to bring down someone with Wolverine's abilities even? She had seen the reports that Logan had the ability to regenerate for a single cell.

Whether that was true or not, she didn't know, but it was amazing to really think about and consider all together.

"Everyone move in and keep your eyes peeled for any strange movements, shoot first, ask questions later," Natasha said, the weapons were non-lethal but at the same time, they packed a punch. They needed answers, not casualties. That was the name of SHIELD.

One of the armored men shook, Natasha could tell that this was one of his earliest missions. He did not stand straight up as one would be.

"Stay sharp," she said, holding her arms up and she could hear something rustle in the bushes nearby.

They all fired at the bushes and Natasha rushed forward, trying to see what they fired upon.

A girl was in the tree above Natasha's head and she jumped down. It was only by sheer reflexes and instinct that the Black Widow caught her leg and whipped her down to the ground. It was a forceful blow that would have nastily broken the leg of anyone and rendered them able to be taken in.

This girl shrugged it off and grimaced slowly. Then her claws were out. The SHIELD Agents fired upon her but she was already gone the moment that they started firing.

'_Cat and mouse,' _Natasha thought feverishly, looking over her shoulder.

There was nothing there once again, she had left but there was an army of HYDRA soldiers approaching them. They marched there way, guns locked on the agents of SHIELD.

Natasha never expected a mission like this to be easy. This added to the satisifaction.

"Keep them at bay, I'll find her," Natasha said to one of the more veteran field officers who nodded.

The Black Widow was about to hunt her pray.

'_Okay, Wolverette, where are you?' _Natasha thought, walking through the shadows and she once again heard a rustling.

A swipe of claws nearly took her out and then she was back in the shadows. Natasha felt that she was a good tracker but this female, despite being raw and unrefined, had many natural instincts that threw her off balance.

Natasha hurled a stun grenade into the shadows at the first sign of movement, not knowing how good it would do. It was a slight bit better than getting her head blown off.

* * *

The world of Earth was different from Krypton. Kara's eyes grew wide as she looked around, a wide smile on her face. She shook her head and gained focus. There would be plenty of time for sight seeing right now.

"Amazing, isn't it?"

Kal stood right next to Kara and the two of them stood beside each other, waiting for the signal when it was safe to go in.

"It's pretty interesting," Kara said, with a smile on her face.

"But Krypton, it was amazing, wasn't it?" Kal asked her and she nodded.

"Kandor was especially, it was beautiful, at least until it was wiped off of the face of the planet," Kara said, hovering a few inches off of the ground. Now that she was slowly grasping the flight thing, the blonde looked like a kid in a candy store. "But Earth, it does have potential."

"And a lot of it's untapped and there's a lot of guidance that will be needed," Kal told her and the other Kryptonian nodded.

"Right, so does any world," Kara agreed, her head nodding up and down feverishly, with Kal's grip getting tighter around her waist. The blonde relaxed her body fairly lazily against his as she floated a half of an inch off of the ground. He did as well.

"I know you want to fly, but calm down just a little bit," Kal said, with a teasing glint in his eye and Kara dropped down, arms folded.

"Sorry," she said, not really sounding all that sorry. It was the thought that counted more than anything, really.

Kal listened off into the distance, he could hear the SHIELD vehicles approaching. They were doing the same thing that Kal and his crew was doing, get there and get the ship, before HYDRA could put it to some terrible use.

The only thing was that he was not sure that SHIELD would put it to some equally horrific use or not.

"Kal, are you and Kara in position?" Lara asked and Kal nodded.

"Yes, we're in," Kal agreed, waiting for Kara. He could see the eagerness in her eyes and he admired it. That kind of energy was something that he admired but there was a time and a place for anything. "Crawling with SHIELD and HYRA agents galore."

"So…you see the same thing that we see, good this will make things a bit easier," Lara said as the team from Nova-Roma moved their way on the base. "Diversion, and you and Kara get in, activate the self destruct relay on her ship after you get all of the essential information."

"Right, what could go wrong?" Kara asked and Kal nudged her with an agitated look in his eyes. "What?"

"First rule you need to know about Earth, never ask what could potentially go wrong."

Kara opened her mouth to protest but there were a series of missiles that impacted the side of the mountain that the stood on. Or rather one that they stood on a few seconds ago.

"And as for what could go wrong, perhaps that," Kal said as he locked on with his heat vision and fired through, snapping the rockets in half with one fluid attack. The Last Son of Krypton blew them up with rapid fire and caused them to spiral down to the Earth.

"Noted," Kara said, copying his moments with her heat vision. Sure it was a bit more unrefined than Kal's would but it sliced the rocket.

"Take a deep breath and relax," Kal said, catching the rocket in his hand and flinging it back like it was absolutely nothing.

Kara coughed something that sounded a lot like "show off" but never the less, she reared her hand back and knocked one of the ships out of the air.

"This is a restricted air space, get out of here!" one of them ordered. "Or you will be gunned down."

"Hey, genius, we were here first," Kara said and she discovered that she had a new power. Super ice breath knocked it out of orbit and caused the people to evacuate the ships.

"So much for the diversion," Kal said as he looked over towards Kara and yelled over his shoulder. "Follow my lead!"

Like an explosive bolt of energy, Kal ripped through the ship, knocking it out of the air. The ship exploded immediately and landed down onto the ground hard.

Kara followed, putting a bit more spin on her attacks. They never the less did the job right as she bounced off of the ships like a ping pong ball.

"What did you just get done telling me a while back?" Kal asked as the two of them ducked through the clearing and once again, tricked SHIELD and HYDRA into a fire fight with each other.

"You heard that?" Kara asked, numb struck in shock.

"Pretty much," Kal agreed, holding Kara in his arms as the two of them swayed, about to hit the ground at full impact.

"Okay, we're going down I guess," Kara agreed, looking over her shoulder and they were fighting each other.

"We got a minute, we're heading in, now," Kal said and Lara popped in over the link.

"Right, take care."

"We're on our way as well," Selene confirmed, she and Viper had met in the past and it was time to have a bit of a reunion. The woman could be useful if not a bit of a wild card.

* * *

Easy wouldn't be fun but there were only three HYDRA guards by the entrance. Kal thought that the security was surprisingly light for a base that had been compromised once already today.

"Well, they're cocky," Kara whispered and Kal turned over his shoulder and spoke to her in their native language.

"Or luring us into a false sense of security and if we talk like this in Kryptonian, no one will be able to know what we're saying but us," Kal said and Kara smiled and nodded.

The first guard was taken out quite easily and the second guard was soon to follow, dropping down to the ground like nine pins. The blonde and dark haired Kryptonian entered the next room and could hear the grinding of gears next to them.

It was HYDRA, they were always up to something, the question was, what were they up to? The two Kryptonians could see the side chamber where the ship was and that much was obvious, they were guarding the ship.

"Of course," Kal whispered but he could take them out.

There was a click of an energy cannon behind his back and Viper stood there, staring him down.

"Come quietly and no one gets hurt," Viper said and Kara stared her down. There was one of those "oh, she has to be joking, please tell me she's joking" kind of looks on her face.

"Really?" Kal asked, speaking for both of them as he stepped forward and she blasted him with an energy cannon that could cut a hole through armies.

Kal was not going to lie, it packed more of a punch than most things that had hit him but it was relatively harmless based for someone of his abilities. He grabbed his hand and crushed it against the cannon, crumpling it to the ground.

"You aren't getting out of this base alive," Viper said as she threw a grenade onto the ground. The bright light caused Kal to become temporarily blinded.

The HYDRA goons marched towards him but Kara used her sharp vision to pinpoint where they were. She sent her heat vision off of the beams.

It was supposed to be a precision shot but the beams collapsed and several large pieces of equipment fell down onto the HYDRA goons.

"Kal, are you okay?" Kara asked and Kal nodded. "Let's go."

"Believe me, I'm right behind you,' Kal said, hearing an explosion on the east side of the base. That was their diversion.

"Are you close to the ship?" Lara asked.

"Yes, close to the ship and about to finish things," Kara added, knowing what she had to do. The ship responded to her really well, despite it being destroyed. "Oh, Kal, and even though we don't get hurt by much, this is something that will hurt us. A lot."

Kal raised his eyebrow and looked at Kara. "Define a lot….."

"It will take a lot of yellow sunlight before you are able to sit up straight," Kara told Kal and he nodded, as he looked forward.

"Well you know what to do, I'll watch your back," Kal told her and Kara nodded as she made her way to the ship and began to work to disconnect her hard drive from the ship.

Kal was surprised that there wasn't so super secret HYDRA agent.

CLAWS NEARLY RIPPED INTO HIS FACE! Kal's reflexes blocked it at the last minute. He grabbed her arm and whipped her back down. She bounced back off of the wall and looked at him, sizing him up.

Kal wasn't sure if she was assessing his strength as a mate or thinking of the best way to kill him. Maybe a bit of both, he could sense some conditioning.

"You know, you don't have to be their attack dog," Kal said as he blocked her hand and held her up, before leaping up onto the rafters.

She kicked off of his face and Kal landed down onto the ground. The claw extended out of her foot and was near enough to Kal's throat. The sharp metal could hurt him slightly, he figured that it must have been among the sharpest on Earth.

She kicked over a canister and knocked Kal into them.

Glowing green rocks flew out of the canister and landed onto the ground. Kal stopped for a second, and looked at them.

He blocked her hand and then punched her back. He headbutted her as hard as he could, knocking both of them for a loop as their heads connected with each other.

He was half unconscious, but come to think of it, she was all unconscious. At least for a few seconds, she was waking up fast.

"Kal, got it, almost, yes, and now, now, we've got about a minute," Kara said, as she used her heat vision on the pillars once again and then her ice breath to freeze her adversary in place.

"We need to get her out of here as well….she's nothing but a puppet," Kal told Kara and Kara shrugged.

"Fine, you better do it quickly, there's…..we're running out of time."

X-23 was frozen in a block of ice and Kal grabbed her around and jumped up into the air, up, up and away, with Kara following both of them like a bat out of hell.

"Go, go, go, go, go!" Kara yelled as the alarms on the base began to blare loudly.

Kara, Kal, and the frozen X-23 left the area around the base. The group dropped to the ground and no sooner did they arrive, they came face to face with Black Widow.

"So, it's you," Black Widow said as she stared down Kal and the weapon was against his chest.

"Stand back," Kal told her and he looked her over. "If it wasn't for me, HYDRA would have a dangerous doomsday weapon that they can use to take over the world."

"That explosion it could have killed….."

"It could have, it might have, but I think some of them already evacuated the base," Kal said as he stared Natasha down for a few seconds. "SHIELD has their secrets, I would think that you of all people would appreciate keeping mine."

Natasha felt a feeling of dread passing over her. "What are you….."

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret," Kal said as he closed the gap between the two of them. "I don't want to harm these people but if you try and stop me leaving, I'll have no choice. And the report that you'll going to have to give is nasty."

"Is that….."

"Souvenir from my mission, it's not like SHIELD could hold her anyway," Kal said as he pressed up against her and he placed his hands on either side of Natasha's hips. The redhead woman closed her eyes and Kal licked his lips next to her. "Although I'd like to keep someone like you as a sovenier. If you ever get bored with the spy game, look me up. There is a wider world out there, and SHIELD isn't the be all end all."

Kal teased kissing her and Natasha was disappointed as he pulled back. It was now up, up, and away for all of them.

"He got away," Natasha said, when she regained her bearings finally.

* * *

Kara thought that today was pretty exciting, it was the type of adventure that really got the blood pumping. It was also that type of adventure that made her realize that she had so much to learn so far. She would learn it right away.

The hard drive was placed on the bedside dresser and the rush that went through her body after what happened, it was completely dying down. The blonde cupped her hand underneath her chin and looked out of the window. She never appreciated a yellow sunset, it was so beautiful.

A knock on the door was heard and Kara looked forward. "Come in, it's open!"

The door opened and Kal entered the room, staring the blonde down with a grin on her face. "Kal, hi, how are you?"

"I'm good, I just wanted to check up on you, to see how you're doing," Kal said and Kara smiled at him.

"I'm doing well, thanks for asking," Kara said but she bit down on her lip and leaned forward to whisper to him. "So how about….."

"She's being kept in a secure location until some of our scientists and doctors can take a look at her," Kal replied to Kara, gripping her hand. "HYDRA did a number on her and it's going to take a while before she's well."

"That's sad," Kara said and she meant that honestly with all of her heart. Kal drew her in closer to her.

"Yes, that's sad," Kal agreed, looking at Kara and running his head through her blonde hair. "But out there, you were amazing?"

"You mean I….."

"Well there's room for improvement but you would have to be amazing and you had a decent enough grip on your powers not to embarrass yourself."

"Did you embarrass yourself?" Kara asked before she could help herself. Kal raised an eyebrow and Kara amended with one simple word. "Sorry…..um, I didn't…"

"No problem, you couldn't have known," Kal told Kara, bringing her closer to him and the blonde shivered as his grip was locked around her waist. "But yes, I embarrassed myself with my powers. Did some stupid things but that's the only way that we learn."

"Yeah, I guess," Kara said and she relaxed into his strong embrace. "The hard drive…it's sentimental….although there's nothing on Earth that can process it."

Kal was firm in his response. "We'll find something, or we'll invent something. That's what we do here on Nova-Roma, change the perceptions of the world."

"I think that I'll enjoy it here," Kara said and she meant that with all sincerity, from the bottom of her heart.

"I'm sure that you will enjoy things, and you'll fit in great, a mind like yours," Kal said and Kara looked at her. "

Kara closed her eyes and basked in the moment of what came next. It was completely wonderful.

**To Be Continued. **


	9. Must Be Tuesday

Kara appreciated the beauty and the majesty of Nova-Roma, the blonde's lips curling into a bright smile as she looked over everything.

"So, what's your opinion of the place?"

Kara turned around and saw Amara standing there. She appreciated the beauty of the Nova-Roman ruler, well one of them. She ruled beside Kal, who she could see was the supreme authority of the land.

"Of Nova-Roma…..well it's amazing," Kara said and she meant this in all honesty.

"Well…..I have to admit….it's no Krypton," Amara said, she was always awestruck when Lara talked about the designs of Krypton. They were trying to duplicate them the best they could with some of the renovations on the island but unfortunately they had an extremely long way to go before they reached that point."

"Krypton had its time," Kara said and her blue eyes fixed upon Amara's eyes. "Not all of the things about Krypton was good. And the planet met a messy end."

"So did you….."

"I've come to terms with what happened, if that's what you're asking, life goes on," Kara said and she turned around. "I'm looking forward to a new world, a new hope as well."

"Well, I'm glad to see that you're taking to the Earth life so well," Amara said brightly and Kara nodded up and down.

"Yes…..it isn't like I'm here alone and besides Earth was kind of like how Krypton was….a prehistoric Krypton. But since Earth is young, it will grow, it has potential."

"Only if the right people guide it," Amara said firmly, the blonde looking thoughtful.

"The right person wouldn't happen to be Kal, would he?"

Amara laughed, a bright smile appearing on the female's face. "Well, Selene seems to think so and agreeing with her tends to be the best. She might have met more than a few Kryptonian explorers that have visited Earth around the years."

"Really, she's been around for a long time, hasn't she?" Kara asked and Amara shifted her face.

"Only several thousands of years, yes."

"She's aged well," Kara said, looking at the sunrise, the yellow rays energizing her even more. It was quite frankly beautiful from this angle. "Kal's helping me settle in, and Aunt Lara is here…..I thought….I was afraid when Zod captured both of them…..I would never see them again. Thankfully they caught up with the right people."

"Zod's ancient history now, along with the old leaders of the Hellfire Club," Amara said, there were several people who were underneath Kal's leadership, quite literally in fact.

Speaking of the new regime of the Hellfire Club, an attractive blonde showed up. She was dressed in a white jacket, a white corset top, and tight white pants that adhered to her skin like a second layer. She wore a pair of white boots.

"Hello, Amara," Emma said in a crisp and cool voice as she looked at the younger female. "Could you tell me where Kal is?"

"He's up at the Palace, meeting with Selene and Lara," Amara said, and she knew what these meetings entailed of.

"So, I guess that I will have to wait to get his attention," Emma said, she knew that incurring Selene's wrath on this day would be the politically unwise thing to do. She turned her attention to the other blonde before her. "And I'm afraid that I don't know your name…."

"Kara….Kara Zor-El," Kara said, reaching her hand out and extending it towards Emma. "I'm Kal's cousin from back home."

"And by from back home, you mean Krypton," Emma said in a swift and elegant voice.

"I wasn't sure that you were aware," Kara said and Emma smiled at the younger blonde.

"Well it's best to be for certain about these things, honey," Emma said, pleased about how beautiful she was. Then again, Kal's family did have some good genetics. And Kara looked super model beautiful as far as she was concerned. "It must have been quite the journey for you to get in. Wasn't it you who was on the ship that Kal discovered yesterday?"

"Yes, I had been trapped in stasis for over fifteen years," Kara said and she hated that point.

"And to miss out on so much of life," Emma said and Amara looked at her. "Darling, could you do me a favor and fetch me a drink, Kara would you like one as well?"

Amara opened her mouth, she knew that Emma was just being Emma and trying to rile her up a little bit by treating her like Emma's own personal butler.

"I'm fine," Kara said as she turned towards Emma. "So how did you know Kal?"

"My family and Selene did business for years, and Kal…..well at first, I didn't have much to do with him, I had a snotty attitude when I was younger, nothing compared to my sisters, of course," Emma said and Amara's scoffing went upon death ears. If you asked the Nova-Roman princess, Emma's delightful attitude was something that didn't get better with age, it got even worse.

"That's interesting," Kara said with a smile. "So you and Kal….."

"Yes, wouldn't you?" Emma asked with a saucy smile. She was a part of the Hellfire Club, so the taboos that most people would turn their nose up at was something that Emma didn't care about.

"Of course," Kara answered, with a smile and Amara brought Emma back her drink. Emma mentally gave her the details of what she wanted to her specifications.

"Will there be anything else, Miss Frost?" Amara asked sweetly and Emma shook her head.

"No, that will be all, Amara ,you may sit down," Emma said with a smirk on her face and she put the glass up to her lips but she felt a small burning sensation.

"Careful, it's hot," Amara said, barely shielding the grin on her face.

Emma waited with Kara and Amara, until the moment where she would be permitted to visit Kal-El and after she had been away for a couple of weeks, they had a lot of lost ground to make up from.

* * *

Emma turned up the moment that Kal left from his meeting with Lara and Selene.

"I hope that your meeting with those two wasn't too exerting," Emma said and Kal smiled at her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling the hot older blonde into a long kiss, which Emma returned quite heatedly.

The two of them pulled apart from each other, after enjoying the moment with each other. Kal decided to smile at her. "Emma, it's nice to see you once more."

"After that performance, I gathered as much," Emma said, resting her hands on Kal's waist, as she bent down to look at him. "I've been scouting talent…..there are many promising young females out there that could use the proper guidance."

"Well, I'm sure because of your tastes, you'll only pick the better best and the very brightest," Kal told Emma and the blonde gave him a sultry smile.

"Yes….although there are some women who are high strung and aren't going to just get into bed that easily," Emma said but she gave Kal a knowing wink. "But that makes the hunt more thrilling, with both business and pleasure, doesn't it, Kal-El?"

"It does indeed, Emma," Kal said and he looked at the blonde. "So did you meet Kara?"

"Yes a lovely young lady, she has potential," Emma said as she looked out the window. "And I'm sure that you met another party that has potential as well."

"You're referring to the Black Widow."

"Yes, young Miss Romanov, she's been at this spy game since she was very young, and she's picked up a few useful skills along the way," Emma said, placing her hand on Kal's chest, his shirt was still partially unbuttoned. "And SHIELD was bound to know about you and as you know, they've tasked her to bring you in to see what you're all about."

"I'm sure she thinks that she can trap me, like I'm any other man," Kal said and Emma laughed at this.

"She's intelligent in my respects but in this one, she's hopelessly naïve, all spiders are dangerous, until they come face to face with a more dangerous predator," Emma said and she walked with Kal to the bedroom, discussing more business. "After your first meeting, I'm sure that she can't get you out of her head. And I've insured that it stayed that way."

Kal looked at Emma and was curious, surprised, and intrigued all at the same time. "What did you do?"

Emma's smile was completely sultry as she worked Kal's shirt the rest of the way off of him, seeing his muscular chest exposed. "Nothing too…taboo. Just made sure that the thoughts that she had of you stayed to the forefront, when she tried to keep a closer eye on me. SHIELD really needs to watch where they stick their noses, there are consequences."

"By the next time we meet….."

"She'll be choking for it," Emma said, straddling Kal as he was not sitting on the bed. "Just like I'm choking for it, darling."

"Well, I shouldn't keep a lady waiting, should I?"

Emma smiled, and leaned forward, to kiss Kal passionately, the burning desire the two of them felt for each other increasing.

* * *

Natasha Romanov bit the bullet, walked in ,and prepared to do this with the sheer determination that always etched on her face. She was going to be honest, talking to Nick Fury was always an intimidating prospect even during the best of times, when you had good news. Talking to him during the fiasco that was that last mission, well…..one could consider this to be one of the toughest things that she ever had to do as a spy.

That was a long list that seemed to grow with each minute that she was with SHIELD. She could hear Fury wrapping up a conversation with someone. She could have sworn that she saw Abigail Brand on the view screen, she knew that SWORD was tasked with all extra-terrestrial travel.

"Agent Romanov," Fury said, without turning his back to the screen, at least not yet. Natasha swore that he did that sometimes just to psyche people out. Slowly, the Director of SHIELD turned around to face the spy.

"HYDRA base have been cleared out, but Viper and her bodyguard have escaped…..although her little toy was taken off my our alien friend," Natasha said and Fury looked her over. "And there was another one in the ship."

"Did you uncover any part of the ship?"

"No, Commander Fury, I didn't….they activated some kind of self-destruct sequence and they took something from the ship," Natasha said, rubbing her shoulder for a second. She did get knocked around by that Wolverine Female mini-me. "And they've cloned Wolverine….she's…"

"Yes, I read your reporter, I know," Fury said gruffly, to say this was a problem put things mildly. "This is a mission that's not going to be resolved easily. It's worse than I thought."

"There are two of them now, well three if you go by the fact of the confirmed sighting of the one eighteen years ago," Natasha said and Fury looked at his top spy. "So what do you….."

"I stand by my previous orders, do what you can get information out of him," Fury said, feeling like this was out of his depth but he refused to concede despite that. He was Nick Fury, he ran SHIELD, and their job was to deal with those situations that were out of their depths. "Someone like that, he has to have a weakness somewhere and we're going to find out what."

"You know considering that he just treated two SHIELD vehicles like they were ping-pong balls…..I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't have a weakness," Natasha said, she had seen him handle those vehicles with her own two eyes.

"Yes, I got the damage report," Fury said, not happy that those state of the art vehicles were damage. He was going to send that kid the bill…..if he ever found him that was. "You know better than most how to get into the mind of someone and sees what makes them tick."

"Yes," Natasha said, she had been replaying that moment in her mind with constant frequency and it was taking her mind to some very interesting places.

Not to mention some very erotic and taboo places but the Black Widow had to focus, now was not the time to have such thoughts.

"SWORD has leads, here they are," Fury said, handing Natasha the file folder. The spy smiled. "And as for the Hellfire Club…..we believe that they could be behind this."

"We haven't been able to tie them for anything," Natasha said, thinking about the long term investigation of the Hellfire Club. There was some heavy changes of regime over the past few years.

"Kal Shaw is the supposed new Black King of the Hellfire Club, after the previous one died," Fury said to Natasha, and the redhead nodded. "He hasn't been seen in public once, but I'm sure that you could find a way to get him to talk. He might know something about this, perhaps more than you think."

"What if they're one and the same?" Natasha asked and Fury gruffly nodded his head.

"Don't think that I haven't thought about that, Agent Romanov," Fury said as he walked over, seeing the news. Nothing that was a concern for SHIELD. "But theories are useless…"

"Understood," Natasha said, taking her leave with the information. She wondered what they would have to do now. The redhead had a lot to think about in a very short time. He hinted that there was no way SHIELD was going to be able to hold and she wondered if she should argue about such a thing.

Soon she would find out, that much was for sure. The redhead slipped forward, and prepared for her investigation to continue. If she got close to the club where high ranking members of the Hellfire Club hung out, then she was closer to figuring out what happened.

Fury wanted answers, well she would get them for him, by any means necessary.

* * *

"So, we're going to release her," Kara said, looking at the girl who was currently in stasis, this dark haired female that attacked both her and Kal.

"She's just as much of a prisoner of them as you were," Selene said and Kara raised an eyebrow but perception set into the blonde.

"Even more a prisoner come to think of it," Kara said and Kal sat off to herself, as did Emma, Lara, and Amara.

They had to release her, because she would be a potentially useful ally. But they weren't being stupid. In case things went pear shaped, they had a plan that would take her down.

"Okay, are you ready?" Lara asked, all she had to do was flip the switch and open the tank. The ice Kal put around her already melted.

"Yes, do it," Selene said, preparing herself and she inclined her head to Emma. Emma confirmed that she had her orders.

"I have her mind locked, so far it's dormant, I will let you know the thoughts that come from her mind."

The tank clicked up and opened up, with Kal watching her. The girl's eyes slowly opened, with Emma giving them a report.

"Her thoughts are confused, feral, untamed, but she's not attacking us, yet," Emma said and that was a relief to all of them.

"Good, but keep standing by," Lara said and she could see the girl's eyes flash over towards them, looking at them in confusion.

"Not hostile, but they have a chance to be that way soon," Emma amended and the girl's eyes fixed on them, with razor sharp focus. The dark haired girl took half of a step forward but she collapsed onto the ground.

"Relax, it's fine," Lara said as she leaned down and the girl's head looked up.

"Where am I?"

"You're on the island of Nova-Roma," Amara said to the girl and the two dark haired girls stared each other down. Things were starting to become intense from both sides of the equations. "And you're safe, and away from HYDRA."

"I'm never free from them," the girl argued, protest dripping from her every word as she rubbed the back of her head.

"We removed the implant from your head, you should be able to think a bit more clearly now," Lara said and the girl nodded, dropping almost to one knee. "You might feel a little bit fuzzy."

"Thank you," she said, and she meant that from the bottom of her heart. Kal stepped forward. "Who are you?"

"My name is Kal-El from Krypton."

"They tried to have me kill you," she said, a small amount of remorse going through her eyes. "You froze me solid and brought me here."

"I did what I had to do," Kal said but she held up one hand, although her motions were a bit shaky and stunted.

"Don't apologize, you did what you had to do," she said and she rubbed the back of her head. "I would have done the same or worse….and no one would have faulted you if you would have done worse."

"I know you wouldn't fault us, but…..you were being used by HYDRA, used as a weapon, as some kind of attack dog," Kal whispered to her and she nodded after a second, looking him over. Once again, there was normally an urge to attack but it was gone, well mostly gone.

There were whispers, faint ones, that were echoes of her conditioning but she was sure that it would pass after all.

"Yes, I can see it," the girl said taking a step forward but she was weak. Lara drew her up a chair and allowed her to sink down into it. The healing factor was something that cancelled out a lot of pain but she had just been through a major medical procedure. So she was not completely with it. "And I see….that you saved me."

"So do you have a name?" Amara asked, unable to prevent the question from slipping from her mouth. To be fair, it was a fair question.

The girl's jaw was a bit more sore but she managed to spit out a statement. "They called me X-23, that was my project name. I was based off of the original Weapon X project, but there were many failed attempts to replicate it. At least that's what was my understanding."

"Yes, that's your project codename," Selene said, she had been aware of that project and she had met the original Weapon X. Then again, as long as she lived and as long as he had been running around, it would have been difficult not to meet up with him. "But that's not your real name."

"Yeah, didn't they give you a name, other than that….someone, anyone?" Kara asked, feeling sorry for the girl. Living in a lab and being conditioned to be an attack dog must have sucked.

"You don't have to remember, if you don't want to, but it would help us….it seems a kind of bit impersonal to call you X-23," Kal said and the girl offered him a shadow of a smile, a sad shadow of a smile but one never the less.

"Yes….there was a woman….she was the one who took care of me when I was created, although HYDRA had her killed when she outlived her usefulness," the girl said remorsefully and she could tell that the group read that as that HYDRA made her kill the woman that was for all intents and purposes her mother. "She called me….Laura….her name was Sarah Kinney."

"Then Laura Kinney, that's who you are," Kal said firmly, grabbing the girl and she looked him in the face. "I think that you need to lie down for a little bit."

"Yes," Laura said, normally she didn't need sleep.

"We'll run some more tests when you feel better to make sure that you don't have any side effects," Lara added and Laura nodded, that was most agreeable for her.

"Thank you," she said, getting up to her feet and walking off.

* * *

Charles Xavier, the founder of the X-Men, sat underneath the machine known as Cerebro. There were mutants, there were humans, and then there were other heroes that were empowered by alternate means, such as the Fantastic Four. He could see them all on the screen. After the recent battles with Magneto, things had been quiet but the Master of Magetism was never one to leave things quiet.

"Any luck, Charles?"

A blue furry, but kind faced man, wearing glasses, along with a white button up t-shirt and slacks entered the Cerebro chapter. His name was Henry McCoy, his friends called him Hank, but he was also known by his code name, Beast"

"Not yet, my old friend, I did pick up two strange energy signatures earlier…"

"Could it be the mysterious visitor from above that seems to be rumored as the savior of New York?" Hank asked and Charles frowned.

"Yes, I thought so, he's not a mutant but at the same time, he's a person of interest, he doesn't register underneath the usual classification systems of Cerebro," Xavier said, sighing and then adding another point, almost as an afterthought. "And furthermore, his thought patterns, I can't even pick up on them, nor can I pick up on those of his companion."

"So there is more than one of them," Beast said, wide eyed at the very thought of it. Then again, he always thought that there might be intelligent life out there.

"I'm sure…..I'm sure we're not the only ones who have detected him, we know SHIELD has their ways of finding out things before they should," Xavier said, looking at the screen.

Beast held the newspaper in his hand, there were details about the mysterious vigilante, who had rescued a bus full of children from a psychotic man named Kassady earlier this week. Norman Osborn gave a quote, saying that such do-gooders prevented the police from doing their jobs. Then again, Osborn's business practices tended to be shady at best, but that was neither here nor there.

"Anything interesting in the paper?"

Hank was quick to reply to Xavier's question. "Nothing other than the usual fluff pieces. At least nothing to be too concerned about."

"Right, I had thought not but we must make sure," Xavier said, remaining fairly calm all things considered as he tried to lock on the source. "Cerebro is not picking up a very strong signal and you know that Erik will have his own methods in tracking down this young man."

"Yes, that goes without saying," Beast answered, folding his arms but the door opened up.

A tall female with white hair and chocolate skin entered the room. She had piercing blue eyes. The material of her outfit stretched around her body, giving her an extremely regal appearance. A pair of D-Cup breasts stood out and she had an amazing ass as well, in addition to long legs. She was in her early twenties.

"Ororo, what seems to be the problem?" Xavier asked, one of his X-Men being so distressed.

"It's Jean," Ororo said in a frantic voice and Xavier turned his wheelchair around and followed Ororo out of the room, knowing that explanations would come soon enough. Jean's powers had been…..well they had a lot of scary untapped potential and she had the potential to be stronger than Xavier.

And such powers could potentially overwhelm a mind so young as well.

* * *

Emma Frost heard a very strong psychic impulse as she sat on the beach at the edge of the island. She was dressed in a white tight bikini that barely contained her assets. Kara wore a red bikini, about as skimpy but she didn't quite grow into the assets that Emma had. Amara wore a green bikini, barely covering what needed to be covered.

"Argh," Emma grumbled as she could feel her head about ready to collapse on itself and Kal rushed over, he was about ready to join the girls but Emma's distress call had put the stop onto any beach fun that they could have.

"What is it?" Kal asked and Emma shook her head. The blonde remained calm, but there was an undercurrent of annoyance that flowed through her eyes. She kept rubbing her temples, taking a long deep breath.

"I'll let you know when my headache goes away," Emma said, getting up to her feet. She picked up the robe that she packed to the beach and slipped it on. "It's something that Selene needs to know about…..something that she wanted me to keep an eye out for, for a long time."

Kal understood immediately, his mouth hanging halfway open. "Today's the day, isn't it?"

Emma nodded in agreement. "Yes, Kal, today's the day."

The duo walked forward side by side, with Amara and Kara following. Kara decided to take Amara underneath her arm and Kal lifted up Emma, as the group flew up to the tower. Such urgent news meant that they needed a more urgent way to travel.

The quartet dropped down and Kal reached on the office door, knocking on it.

"Enter," Selene said in her usual regal voice and the group entered, to see Lara and Julianna tied up, against the wall, bound and gagged.

'_Must be Tuesday,' _Amara thought, without even blinking at seeing her mother and Kal's mother in bondage.

Selene was dressed in a more skimpier version in her Hellfire club attire, it barely contained what it needed to contain. How that was possible?

"Selene, it's happened," Emma said to the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club. She had a good reason why she nearly broke up Selene's usual Tuesday orgy.

"The Phoenix?" Selene asked and Kara's eyes widened for a second. She had heard rumors about this mythical creature, it's influence went even to Krypton. It's sister entity was the Flamebird, her friend, Thara Ak-Var was obsessed learning about that.

"Yes, the Phoenix," Emma confirmed as Selene regrettably released Lara and Julianna from their bonds.

"We're going to have to postpone this for today."

**To Be Continued. **


	10. Phoenix Rises

"Jean, Jean, Jean?"

Saying her name three times in sequence did not make Jean Grey come out of her room, Xavier, Beast, and Storm stood on the outside, joined by Cyclops.

"She's not alright, is she professor?" Cyclops asked and Xavier shook his head.

"I'm afraid I can't delay this any longer than I want to but Jean's mind, it's been captured by an entity known as the Phoenix Force," Xavier reported to the group and they stood, their mouths opened, aghast. "She tapped into this cosmic entity at Birth…..older than time itself."

"Can you control it?" Cyclops asked and Storm looked at him before opening her mouth.

"I think that it's Jean's to control," Storm said, phrasing what she said as half of a question, half of a statement.

"You're correct Ororo, it is, "Xavier said and he tried to lock his mind into Jean. Her door was shut tightly.

"Maybe I should blast it open?" Cyclops asked, cracking his knuckles. He pushed his visor which stopped his eye beams from going off all of the time.

"Scott, it will do more harm than good, the Phoenix might perceive any attack like that as a threat," Xavier replied and Scott hung his head. He prepared to do what he could right now and the other X-Men showed up.

The first was a female in her early twenties, with purple hair and alluring purple eyes. She was dressed in a skin tight suit that clung to every curve of her body and it showed her shapely ass. She was Elizabeth Braddock, better known as Psylocke.

"I feel it, it's….it's strong, the Phoenix is angry, it's in a cage," Psylocke said, she felt her head split as three more members of the team showed up following her.

"So what's the damage, Chuck?"

This statement was said by a man with dark hair and side burns. He was dressed in a black jacket, white top, and jeans. He talked in a gruff voice. His name was Logan but he was better known as Wolverine.

"The power of the Phoenix would have destroyed Jean if I allowed it to go untamed but recent stresses….the battles with the Brotherhood, it caused a dam to break like that."

"Caged….you locked it away?"

"I know, I tried to exercise my options and knew that this day would come but I had no idea that it would come this soon," Xavier said, addressing Ororo.

"So, is she going to be pissed off at you when she comes out?" a young man with brown hair dressed in a white top and jeans asked.

"Not exactly the terminology I would have used Bobby, but in essence, yes."

Xavier was about ready to call for Jean once more but it turned out that he did not have to, rather he could hear her echoing voice.

'_You will not trap me any longer. I am free, do you hear me? I AM FREE!'_

'_Am I speaking to the Phoenix or am I speaking to Jean Grey?' _Xavier asked, waiting for the answer but he had a feeling that he would regret hearing it in due time.

'_We are but one in the same, Charles Xavier, no thanks to you!'_

"Look, you're going to hurt Jean so…."

BAM!

Xavier flew back halfway across the hallway. Psylocke jumped in, using her telekinetic powers to stop Xavier's wheelchair from flying out of the window. He suffered from a severe form of vertigo.

"No, I'm not going to hurt Jean, that's all on you," Jean said. Her red hair flowed freely as energy glowed around her, her golden eyes like slits. Everything that was not nailed down and some stuff that was lifted off of the ground, and she was dressed in a red shirt and red pants. Her amazing bust and her tight ass was displayed in this outfit and she wore no shoes. "The Phoenix will be powerful….."

"Let her go," Logan said but Jean stopped him in mid air.

"You can heal from anything physically, but what about mentally?" Jean asked and Logan gave a pained grunt as a psychic explosion rendered out in the back of his head.

Iceman tried to freeze her but Jean lifted her hand. The ice melted right before it hit her body.

"Jean, we don't want to hurt you," Ororo said in an anxious voice but assimilating with the Phoenix Powers had caused her to lose sense of her sanity.

"No, Ororo, I don't want to hurt you either but….I'm afraid I have no choice if you don't let me find him," Jean said, her eyes once again glowing with power.

"Jean, this isn't you!" Cyclops yelled but Jean blocked his optic blast with her hand and sent it flying back at him, knocking him down on his ass.

"You don't know at all, do you Cyclops?" Jean asked, her eyes glowing as she blew the top of the Xavier Institute off. "I will find him!"

"Who will you find Jean, who will you find?" Betsy asked but that was a question that fell on deaf ears.

"The one that I've been destined to be with all of this time," Jean chorused and she vanished into a bright light, the Phoenix extending her wings as she disappeared into the night.

Charles Xavier was not going to lie, he had a problem, and it was imperative that he tracked down Jean before it was too late.

* * *

"Since as long as I can remember, I've been searching for the Phoenix Force and it has been searching for someone to use as its vessel so it can continue to flourish," Selene concluded, the explanation mostly for Kara and Laura who were new to the party and thus didn't know what was going on. "Throughout the centuries, there have been many who have held the Phoenix Force but not for long. The abilities have burned out the holders mentally, physically, and emotionally."

"And the reason for this is that the Phoenix has not located its one true mate," Emma added, curling her hand underneath her chin, deep in thought. Her eyes locked onto Kal's in a significant manner and Kal smiled.

"You think it's me."

"Well let's just say that bonding with the holder of the Phoenix Force is intense and would reduce most men who aren't super powered to ashes," Emma said and she placed her hand on Kal's cheek.

"And Kal, you're not one who avoids the heat," Amara said, with a smile. The two of them shared some kind of inside joke between the two of them.

"Okay, you've got me convinced," Kal said and he could see the image in Emma's mind as she projected it to her. "So, would it be an extremely bad pun if I said that she was hot?"

"Yes, it would but it was accurate," Emma said, waiting for Selene to inform them what was up. The Black Queen of the Hellfire Club paused and gave her honest assessment.

"I have a feeling that the usual suspects will see the kind of energy spike," Selene said and Kal proceeded to say them.

"SHIELD, HYDRA, the X-Men….."

"The Brotherhood," Amara chimed in, they could not discount them.

"I was just getting onto that," Kal said, and he could feel something in the air.

"Are you okay?" Kara asked and Emma smiled, she could tell that it would be a bad thing to interrupt Kal when he was so intently focused.

"It's the Phoenix Force, honey, it's locked onto Kal, it's calling out for him, and I think that soon the holder will meet," Emma said but the thought patterns were still erratic. "Xavier sees things too narrowly, he can't look in anything but black and white and….well the results is this mess."

"We're not going to bungle this one like we did the last one," Kal said firmly and Amara nodded firmly by his side.

"The question is, are you ready to go out in the field?" Emma asked and Laura opened her mouth. "For all the right reasons and not because you have an ax to grind with HYDRA."

"I'm ready," Laura said and there was a chilling tone in her voice. She was not completely healed from her ordeal with HYDRA and what they did with her. They called her a thing, a weapon, something that they could scrap and dispose of if they failed.

"Primary objective is to capture the Phoenix Force," Emma reminded her. "Her life is on the line if the force burns her out."

"Most users have been burned out before the time they are twenty five," Amara chimed in, Selene had only lectured her long and often enough about the Phoenix Force that the facts were burned into the back of her head.

"I know that this one is quite young, no older than eighteen," Emma said, trying to get a thought pattern. "Which means we have to deal with the Phoenix Force coupled with teenage hormones….."

"What's wrong with teenage hormones?" Kara asked.

"Well let's just put it this way, if you catch an Earth female at a bad time of the month, they turn into a rampaging monster, and with the Phoenix Force," Emma said and there was a lengthy pause. "Kryptonians don't have to deal with that particular thing, do they?"

"No, we've passed that thousands of years ago," Lara said, perfectly aware of what Emma was talking about.

"Surely you are the sufficiently advanced race then," Emma said, crossing her arms and a smile spread over her face. "But we need to focus, she would be calling out for you especially Kal-El."

"Why doesn't she come to the island, though?" Kara asked and Kal was the one that answered it for her.

"She might not be able to properly control her powers, so she's drifting around aimlessly."

"Kal is correct," Selene inputted. She knew that she would meet Xavier soon, who would like to reclaim his chosen one's conquest. She wondered if Xavier was as idealistic as she remembered.

"She's close but….."

One of the metal gates outside of the palace shook and a scanner had a large spike of magnetic energy on it.

"Magnetism," Lara whispered and it was obvious that the Phoenix was not the only one that was in proximity.

"And the Brotherhood throws their hat into the ring."

* * *

"I'm not sure what that is, but it looks like high levels of Cosmic radiation!" Abigail Brand said at the SWORD observatory and Carol stood next to her. "That's enough fire power to knock out a small country."

"That's….."

"I don't know what that is, but I'm sure that I could be able to find someone who does," Abigail said as she got on the line. Nick Fury's face popped up on the view screen.

"So, you saw the same cosmic energy signature that SHIELD picked up?" Fury asked and Abigail nodded. "I was trying to get ahold of Reed Richards, he would be like a kid in a candy store for something like this but….he's out of range, along with the rest of his team."

"Well, we're just going to have to make do without him," Abigail said and she tracked it. "It came from….."

"Around the area of the Xavier Institute," Fury concluded for her. "It's a hot spot, given Xavier taking in mutants. Speaking of a dam that's going to break before too long. SHIELD might not be able to keep the peace for long and certain people in Washington are pushing for higher regulation of mutants. Kelly is trying to push through a bill that would create the Mutant Response Division and Osborn is willing to fund it."

"Osborn has his own agenda….."

"Osborn would like to have my job if he could manage it, he's obsessed with controlling everything, and he holds most of the big time government contracts, either him or Luthor," Fury ranted, but Osborn had been around a lot longer. "But that's beside the point, if this is some kind of high powered mutant, than….."

"We'll deal with it as it comes," Carol said, and she knew that now was the day where she would have had to get out on the field. "But it could be alien."

"It might have had something to do with something else that came down with that meteor shower fifteen years ago, there have been a lot of people popping up on the gifted index that have exhibited powers that have lived in proximity to where the meteors touched down," Fury rattled off without taking a breath. "Not natural born mutants for they were not born with the gift."

"I see," Abigail said and Carol nodded.

"And SHIELD has a few of them locked deep underground but there is a new freak popping up every week," Fury said. "These meteor freaks could be valuable if in the right hands. HYDRA knows about the powers that the meteors could exhibit. We managed to liberate a fair quantity of it from the base and are testing it right now."

Fury sighed and switched tactics.

"Never mind that, we have this cosmic catastrophe to worry about."

"You're telling me," Abigail muttered but she caught something else. It was a bleep on the screen, it didn't last for a near second but she got it.

"Magnetic pulse nearly knocked communications off line but we've got back up," Fury said and he paused, the screen got fuzzy on his end, just like it got fuzzy on his end. "Are you still there, Brand?"

"Yeah, I'm still there," Abigail said but the communication equipment was making some funny noises. "It's almost like he's trying to get our attention this time."

"He wants the world to know that he's there, especially with Kelly running his mouth every other day about mutants," Fury said, he wanted to put a muzzle on that dog but the problem was that there were a few more people who supported Kelly's aims. And Fury had other battles to fight, with HYDRA's recent activities. They might have cut off one head with the recent mission but in true fashion, two more grew.

"I'm on my way down to investigate the Xavier Institute disturbance," Carol said, despite her powers, she was packed with a small arsenal.

"Fact finding only, remember," Abigail warned her and Carol raised her eyebrow. "I don't want you to get in way over your head and I'll have to bail you out."

"I know and with Magneto….."

"Cal for back up if you run into him and….."

Carol nodded, she got the message loud and clear. This wasn't her first dance. She had been investigating the mysterious visitor from the stars a lot over recent years but he was like chasing a phantom.

Perhaps this mission would give her new perspective and further inspiration. There was only one way to tell.

The blonde boarded the ship and it was off to Earth.

A worker in the shadows smiled and pulled up a communication channel. "They got your message."

"Excellent, stand by for further instructions."

It was time to use SWORD's resources to track the Phoenix Force and Raven Darkholme, better known as Mystique only had to take out Agent Brand and she would be one step closer.

* * *

Magneto watched from the sky, he knew that they would come here soon and half of the work was done for him. His fellow Brotherhood of Mutant libratation members stood next to him. There was the beautiful but dangerous Scarlet Witch, who happened to be his daughter, Wanda Maximoff. No one knew not to mess with her or they would suffer his wrath. Her dark curls hung down her head, as the nineteen year old female looked into the sky. Her costume fit nicely against her body, crimson and the thigh high boots were an added touch.

His son, Pietro, was someone who Magneto wished to keep under foot at all times. Leaving him run around on his own caused problems for he moved about as fast as he thought and he didn't think things through. The other members of the Brotherhood, Pyro, Toad, and Blob, were grunts, ready to destroy them. Pyro could control fire, Toad could leap high and use acidtic substances that he secreted from his mouth, and nothing could move the Blob.

"He's coming," Wanda said calmly as she looked into the sky and she could see the X-Jet coming.

"Not made of metal, they're learning," Magneto said and he turned to Toad. "There's more than one way to bring them down though. Aim wisely."

"Right boss man," Toad said as he reared his head back and spat a disgusting green substance that latched onto the side of the windshield. The plane was about ready to crash.

Inside the plane, Scott tried to steer the plane but no matter what, he couldn't steer correctly.

"I'm trying to steer it but…."

"The Brotherhood have found another way to bring us down," Logan grumbled about ready to pop his claws but there was no way down, no easy way down anyway.

"Guess we're going to have to try for the best landing," Iceman suggested, creating a ramp which allowed them to move down.

Magneto stood in front of the Brotherhood and Cyclops got down to face them.

"I have no reason to fight you X-Men, we are all brothers and sisters in the ongoing war," Magneto said and Logan grunted.

"Yeah right, because you just had our plane almost crashed for the hell of it," Logan said and Magneto looked at him with a sinister flicker of light going through his eyes.

"I felt like it would get your attention."

Logan moved forward and Magneto flickered his wrist. The mutant lifted off of the ground and his arms and legs snapped back. He was held in place.

"So do you wish to talk or brutishly attack me?"

"If you aren't here to attack, then why are you here?" Ororo asked, adopting a calm and even approach. The winds were blowing but she kept herself calm.

"My dear, Storm, it's just a matter of working together to neutralize a threat, but naturally Charles knows that I know about young Miss Grey and her gifts," Magneto said in a calm voice and he averted his eyes to the Brotherhood. His gaze said one thing.

"Do nothing unless they do."

"Yeah….."

"He locked away her gifts, Charles both seeks to understand the limitations of our kind but he also fears what he may learn and what he may learn is that we are more evolved than humans than even I previously thought," Magneto said, keeping his gaze on the X-Men. He was an inch away from putting Wolverine into the ground should he try something but so far so good. At least no attack.

"We just want to help Jean and bring her safely back home," Cyclops said and Wanda decided to pipe in.

"Where is her home?"

"It's with the X-Men…"

"I'm sure that she thinks that you've helped her but with your actions, you're going to put her inside another cage," Wanda said with a smile. She knew what it was like to have her powers caged. "Don't think that I don't understand how you work."

"We're wasting time," Logan growled, Cyclops whipped around and his gaze penetrated Logan, without the optic blast.

"This is a cozy little gathering, isn't it?"

The X-Men and the Brotherhood turned around to see Selene standing there. Logan recognized her, having run into the woman more than a handful of times during his life time.

"You?" Logan growled but Selene lifted her hand up.

"Yes, Logan, but I think you'd remember the folly of attacking me, and I've brought someone that has been dying to meet you," Selene whispered and she stepped back. "Laura, meet the man who graciously gave his DNA to allow your existence."

Logan saw as the female dressed in a tight black top and black leather pants extended forward.

"What did they do to you, kid?" Logan asked and Laura smiled.

"Trust me, Wolverine, there are things that you don't want to know," Laura said and Kal dropped down beside Laura and Selene, with Kara and Amara showing up as well. It was a three way stand off and things could get ugly before too long.

"I think that it was long overdue that we all met face to face."

* * *

"You were the one who came down to Earth all of those years ago," Xavier said, as he was brought off of the plane and he looked at the young man. One thing was for sure, he was not a mutant. "And you are….the mysterious vigilante that has been causing trouble for a lot of people in New York."

"Everyone needs a hobby."

"Your attacks….I have to say that they're brutal," Xavier said to the man. "And you are using your powers….."

"We're really not going to go down this road, are we, Xavier?" Selene asked as she stared down the leader of the X-Men. Things were calm and secure, at least for now. With the Brotherhood and the X-Men, everything could and would get hostile in a hurry. "Kal-El is doing more to protect the world than you and your X-Men do. All you do is sit around and preach about maintaining peace. But you know it will never come."

"I couldn't have said it any better myself….."

"And you aren't much better," Selene said, counteracting Magneto's words. "You and your Brotherhood, they have done nothing but become a hindrance. It is lucky that you have some value, both of you groups, or the Hellfire Club would dispose of you."

"You really think that you can stop all of us," Pietro said and he rushed forward but Kal was quicker, and he knocked him down to the ground.

"Yes, we can," Kal said and he smiled. "Someone as slow as you are should really know better than to pick your battles."

"Slow….I'll say….slow….."

"Look, you should be on the right side," Cyclops said and Kal looked at him, shaking his head. "The X-Men can help people like you fit in in this world…"

"Yeah, you're doing quite a job fitting in, aren't you?" Kara snapped as she looked over them. "I've read about the battles between the X-Men and the Brotherhood. Do you know that Senate wants to pass a bill that will hunt down all mutants? You're just making things worse by being pushovers that you're rolling over. We have power, we should lead humans down a road of enlightenment."

"I couldn't have said it better myself."

"We should not use our powers to manipulate, we cannot be like them….."

"Charles, you speak of a folly, we are not like them, for we are superior to them," Magneto said and he stared Kal down. "I think that someone who can humble my son is worthy of association with my Brotherhood and you are the leader that mutants deserve."

"I can be a leader but I will not lead by following someone like you," Kal said as he stared down Magneto.

"Remember Erik, obsess over those who oppress you for long, you become like them," Selene said to him. "You are no better than someone like Shaw."

Magneto could feel rage boil through him when compared to that monster. Selene was well aware of the nerve that she struck.

"We should just calm down, we're all dealing with the same crisis, a power that could destroy us all," Ororo said and Kal smiled.

"Well said, not surprising that you're the leader of the X-Men."

Cyclops had his mouth hanging open for a few seconds and he nearly was about ready to stammer that he was the leader. He got a warning look from Xavier and a subconscious thought to be quiet.

A loud explosion resounded and Jean appeared in midair above the group.

"Wow," Kara whispered, she was impressed by the power. It was both scary and slightly erotic as well.

"I have searched throughout this world to find my true mate to stabilize my powers," Jean whispered. "Both the Phoenix Force and Jean Grey require someone who is strong, someone who is her equal."

"Jean snap out of it!" Cyclops yelled but Jean looked past him and turned to Kal-El.

"And I see my soul mate right here," Jean whispered, as all three groups were frozen in time. "Do not worry, they are not harmed. They exist outside of the pull of time for I froze the world except for the two of us."

"Impressive," Kal said with a smile.

"That's only scratching the surface of the Phoenix Force," Jean whispered, grabbing Kal around the arm. "Shall we?"

"After you my dear lady."

Both of them vanished in a burst of fire, they were going to have a discussion. Both drawn to their powers and their strength.

Seconds later, the three groups unfroze, no time had passed but Jean and Kal were gone.

**To Be Continue. **


	11. Bonding

Kal-El of Krypton knew power, he understood power, and what he stood before here was the personification of all things that were power. Even the Last Son of Krypton felt a rush of energy as he stood before Jean Grey, the avatar of the Phoenix Force.

"Do not deny me, I'm sure you've been thinking about this moment for a very long time," Jean whispered, excited at the prospect as much herself. Both the Phoenix and Jean Grey, they were excited.

"Yes, the thought did cross my mind more than once, but you see I'm not denying it, and anything you want, I will not deny you," Kal said, placing his hand on Jean's hair. There was no mistaking about it, powers or not, she was a pretty sexy woman.

With the powers, she was the definition of white hot, pun completely intended. The redhead's smoldering gaze looked over every inch of Kal's body and her tongue trailed over the edge of her lips. The look that she was giving him, that was a look that would cause most men to become hard and this man of steel was no exception.

"For thousands of years, the Phoenix Force has jumped from avatar to avatar, and some of those avatars have been on your native Krypton," Jean continued with a smoldering smolder smile on her face and she traced the crest on Kal's shirt, the silver letter "S". "Of course, there was one problem, no matter how often we tried throughout the multiverse, we could not find someone who could experience our gifts in all of their glory, all of our splender. Thus the holders of the Phoenix Force burned out."

"That's a shame….."

"But each brought their own contributions to the table and caused the Phoenix Force to grow in knowledge," Jean whispered and she absent mindedly slipped Kal's jacket off of his shoulders, revealing his muscles. They just were not for show either, despite his powers, he really worked out to get the results that he wanted. "Knowledge is power and power will bring us to this point now, Kal-El of Krypton."

"Yes, I seek…"

"The one thing that the Phoenix Force has never felt, outside of the past memories of some of its holders, is true intimate despite," she whispered, rubbing Kal's neck now from behind. "You see, there have been those who have been with the holders of the Phoenix Force. Unfortunately they didn't get too far before they suffered the consequences."

"What….."

"Power is not something that many can sustain, the Climax would have destroyed them, but no one made it that far," Jean said, and Kal's shirt was completely of this body. "You and I are very much alike."

"Gods wrapped in mortal flesh," Kal said to her and Jean smiled.

"Excellent, this is much easier if you accept your power."

Jean Grey, the Phoenix, both two parts of the same package, were extremely pleased with the young man ahead of them.

Kal did have a question and he could not resist it. "Where are we?"

"I do not wish to burn out sentient life in a whole by making love to you in the initial station of bonding, because it can be intense," Jean told him. "We are inside the White-Hot Room, the one place in the universe that can sustain this initial bonding process."

"Fascinating….."

"The energies of the universe and the energies of the Phoenix Force reside here, we can make this place anything that we want to make it," Jean whispered as she wrapped her arms tightly around Kal's waist and pulled him in. She worked the buckle of his pants down, a smoldering smile on her face as she looked up at him. "And what I want to make of this place is…..the place where we commence our union, and join together. Where Jean Grey can accept the Phoenix Force without fear of being burned out."

"So, this is just some kind of kinky threesome, right?" Kal asked and Jean smiled. "Trust me, I don't have any problem."

"Yes, I see you have no problems with taboo of any sort, as you should not, for it is a useless human concept that has no bearings on an overly powerful being such as yourself," Jean whispered, stroking his abdomen area and then reaching down a bit lower. "And you are well gifted to pleasure many women and they will in turn give you much pleasure. You will change the world Kal-El but together, we can change the universe."

Jean dropped to her knees, flames surrounding her robes which shredded in an erotic action. Every single curve of her athletic body was seen and that got Kal even harder. Her green eyes popped up at him as she was down on her knees, about ready to service him.

* * *

SHIELD arrived, as predicted. Magneto gritted his teeth as he saw the members of SHIELD make their way down to the ground. Seconds had passed from his perspective and the perspective of those who were around them.

He lifted his hand but much to his agitation, anti-magnetic shields prevented him from locking completely on the ship. Fury was scarily prepared, he had to think of everything.

"Wanda, find me away out of here," Magneto whispered to his daughter and Wanda stood up, blinking a couple of times. Swallowing hard, she prepared to do just that with a steady and calm statement.

"Yes father."

Wanda locked onto one of the ships and plowed it with the full force of one of her hex bolts. It altered all probability and there was a low probability that the SHIELD ship was about ready to crash down to the ground.

The woman blinked as the ship was opened.

"Decoy," Pyro whispered, and sure enough, the SHIELD agents were not stupid enough to land in the middle of a mutant war zone.

"Figured as much," Pietro whispered, whipping his head around and the X-Men stood, ready to fight. "I'm surprise you X-Geeks are sticking around, given how you just got your asses handed to you….."

"The X-Men never run from a fight," Cyclops said boldly and there was a few that was questioning his sanity.

Xavier knew that Nick Fury was going to show up and sure enough, the Director of SHIELD made his way there.

"Commander Fury….."

"Charles Xavier, I should have known that you were in the middle of this entire mess," Fury whispered and there was a second where he paused and amended his statement. "Actually there was no should have know, I did know. One of your Omega-level mutants threw a temper tantrum and knocked satellites off of course."

"It's far deeper than that…"

"But I'm essentially right," Fury cut in and Xavier could not deny that fact. He did hate it fairly often when Fury had a point.

The Brotherhood made their retreat in the confusion and Fury knew that there would be a day where there would be a reckoning with Magneto and his group.

"Fury, you should know by now that things are never what they seem," Selene said, staring down the Agent of SHIELD.

"Well, Selene….the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club…"

"And I may remind you that you are on a strip of land that is currently owned by the kingdom of Nova-Roma," Amara said, staring down Fury with heated intentions rolling through her eyes. "Legally speaking, you're thumbing your nose at jurisdiction for we're not underneath your watchful eye or the watchful eye of SHIELD."

"Just tracking a threat that could cripple countries that are under the watchful threat of SHIELD, princess," Fury said and Amara thought about correctly Fury about her title. Then it struck her, Fury knew already, he was just being condescending on purpose. The usual hard ass Nick Fury that everyone knew and loved.

"It's Jean Grey….."

"I thought you had the full dangerous extent of her powers under wraps, that's what you assured me, so I didn't put her in the Vault for her own protection," Fury said and Ororo stepped forward.

"You can't just imprison…"

"Cosmic abilities that could reshape reality in the hands of a hormonal teenage girl, what would you want me to do?" Fury asked and he looked at them. "It would be far less humane than what some people in the government want to do with you. They want to build giant death machines for the express purpose of hunting down mutants. And they don't give a fuck about whether you're brought in dead or alive."

"Yes, I'm aware of this," Xavier said, he had made many trips of Washington to debate Robert Kelly in recent months but sadly, his words had fallen on deaf ears. Kelly's fear mongering was touching the right buttons. Given that mutants were branded as terrorists by some in the government, people were hesitate to jump to their defenses, for they would be aiding and abetting a terrorist.

"You're all coming in with SHIELD for questioning," Fury said, deciding to regain some sort of control with this situation.

"You may take the X-Men and leave," Selene told Fury. "Or you can try and take me and my group and not leave. It's your choice Fury."

"You have some nerve….."

"You do not want to declare an act of war against Nova-Roma," Amara said and she stared Fury down with a fiery gaze in her eyes. There was an undercurrent of "go ahead, try me" etched in her eyes and Fury didn't have a chance to respond.

There was a fiery explosion that brought Jean and Kal-El back down to Earth.

"So, it's you," Fury whispered, looking at the young man for the Fury.

"My name is Kal-El, I'm the king of Nova-Roma, and you're trespassing on my land," Kal said, staring Fury down.

"Clear out," Fury said but he stopped. "I'll be watching you."

"Well that's something that we have in common," Kal said and the stare down was so intense that everyone watching thought that fires were going to be set for a few seconds.

Fury left with his men, with one more look of disdain directed towards them.

"Congratulations, you're now number one on Fury's shit list," Emma concluded dryly and Kara smiled.

"Good," Kara said, she had her fill of politicians back on Krypton and for the most part, they didn't seem to be too different. "So, what happened?"

* * *

SHIELD cleared off, very reluctantly, but things were just about to get juicy. The shocking return of Jean Grey and the revelations that were given was something that might have thrown the entire balance of the war off. Xavier knew that if he was connected to the Hellfire Club and came back with Jean, this might complicate things.

Naturally, the Hellfire Club played a deeper game. The chess motif was completely and utterly accurate as far as they all were concerned.

"Jean, you're….."

"I'm together once again," Jean said, with a smile answering Ororo's voice. She wanted to be reassuring. She put her arm around Kal's waist and he did likewise. "The Phoenix Force could have destroyed me…..even more so than it was locked away."

"I know that you're upset…."

"I was upset, I'm done being upset, because I realized what I gained," Jean told Xavier and this was a girl who had powers who could destroy everyone in her path just like that. The fact that she was completely docile proved to be a good thing, not a bad thing.

"I'm glad that you're in sound mind…."

"Yes, I'm in sound mind, I'm better together than I'll ever be," Jean said with a smile and she looked at Kal. "Thanks to him."

"Yes….."

"The Hellfire Club is all you've known," Xavier muttered and there was a second where he paused. "You must understand….."

"Shaw was the problem, his cohorts were the problem, but you don't see him around any more, now do you?" Selene asked in a crisp voice and that was a very true point. "The X-Men might have the best intentions in mind but the best intentions might not work out for the best. And remember, passive indifference can be more dangerous than an attack."

"We don't have to go down this road," Xavier said to her.

"What road, Charles?" Selene asked and Xavier should be thankful that she did not murder him just for the hell of it. Thankfully she was feeling in a charitable mood of acquiring such a powerful asset for the Club. "There's a war that's about to happen but if you think it's just because mutants and humans, you're not thinking of a bigger picture."

"What bigger picture am I not thinking of?"

Kal was the one who jumped in with a few words of his own. "The one that you keep ignoring because of your tunnel vision, Charles. I've come here and there is a larger universe out here."

"The only reason why Earth hasn't been targeted by alien races as it's fairly new," Kara said, that was the reason why Zod came here in the first place. It was a place where he did not get detected for his war crimes and there were many. "Mutants and humans aren't the problem."

"Just more of a reason why we should stand together," Beast said, trying to keep his voice even tempered.

"You should come with us….." Cyclops said but Kal jumped in, speaking over him.

"Why should I leave my home, a kingdom that I rule?" Kal asked to him. "The dream of Charles Xavier is one that I might share, in the most crude and primitive sense. But the methods that he'll use, I don't agree with that. Good idea in theory, not so good in practice."

"I know you might not agree with everything that I do but…"

"I know what you're thinking, and we'll always be apart on how we go about what we want," Kal said, looking at Xavier.

Xavier tried to get a hunch of what he was thinking but his mind was something that could not be read by any psychic on Earth.

"And that would be a folly as well, I know you like to get inside of people's heads, but unless you know the language, you won't be able to process my thoughts," Kal said and Emma added.

"Even then, there would be difficulty dephiring his thoughts."

"I guess that means we have to part ways," Betsy said, happy that they were not in the midst of a fight because given these two super powered aliens they stood before were rather powerful. Plus, she had a feeling that while the X-Men could put up a fight, they were dealing with.

"I'm leaving, with them, you know that," Jean said and Xavier decided that this was a point to pick his battles wisely. Scott looked like he was going to open his mouth to protest but Xavier looked back at him.

Like an obedient solider, Scott fell back into line.

'_Guess some of us are leaders and others are followers just masquerading,' _Kal thought to them.

"If you change your mind, you know where the X-Men are, and you know that we will never shun you," Xavier said, not liking this but knowing that logically there was no way to stop Jean.

"Yes, and I'll be seeing you around again, I expect," Jean said, with a knowing smile towards Betsy and Ororo.

Emma and Selene's triumph was something that could not be hidden. It would have been more frustrating if they rubbed it in their faces.

* * *

Awe filled the eyes of Jean Grey. Granted she saw the island through Kal's memories when they bonded but seeing things through the memories and seeing things in the flesh, they were two different things entirely.

"Shall I assume that your look of stunned shock means that you approve of your new home," Amara said, she could not believe that the most powerful force in the universe had been rendered speechless. Jean's mouth hung open and Amara smiled.

"Beautiful….."

"Fit for a queen, which all of my girls are," Kal said, walking over towards Jean. He gave Amara a quick kiss and she scurried up to the castle, she had work to do. "It must not have been easy leaving the X-Men like that."

"Well it wasn't but at the same time it was," she said, laughing. She grew suddenly serious and decided to say it. "That really doesn't make much sense, does it?"

Kal pulled her into a tight embrace, her body pressing against his muscular chest. "Jean, it makes more sense thank you think it does."

She smiled and stole a kiss. "Good, I'm glad."

"And if you're glad, than I'm happy," Kal said, running his hands over Jean's hair. Her crimson red locks fit nicely in his hand as he kept stroking her hair. The two of them looked and felt content in each other's embrace.

Kara dropped down beside Kal and the power of Jean, well it excited her just as much as it did Kal. Then again, she appreciated such things and the legend of the Phoenix Force was something that was prominent even on Krypton.

"There was an aircraft outside of the island," Kara informed Kal and Kal withdrew with Jean.

"I need to go, I'll make it up to you later," Kal told her and Jean smiled, watching his retreating back leave her.

"I know you will," Jean agreed, watching Kal make his way off. That left her alone with Kara. "So you and Kal are the last of your kind….well with Lara as well."

"Yes," Kara said, brushing her hair from her face and sitting down next to Jean. "You know, it does seem like it would be depressing to be among the last of our kind but it isn't that bad. It could be much worse."

"At least you three have each other," Jean said, knowing where Kara was coming from and appreciating it with a smile on her face.

"There is that, yes," Kara agreed, feeling the power of the Phoenix up this close was a thrill that she never thought that she had. "Plus, Krypton didn't live due to the fact of how many survivors there were. I mean, Kandor was rebuilt about seven times, until the time where it disappeared. Kal, Lara, and I…..we're going to bring great change to Earth."

"I can see it," Jean said, she could not deny the excitement that she said. "What do you think of the Hellfire Club?"

"Kal is the Hellfire Club, the Black King, Selene and Emma are his Black and White Queens," Kara said honestly. "There are a lot of times where the club got a bad rap in the past but that was during the old management. I haven't been here for long, maybe about a month or so since I came out of the pod."

"So, you don't know….."

"Earth was something that was studied from afar on Krypton," Kara explained. "We got Earth television, and it was kind of amusing how much they got wrong about aliens and their races."

Kara suddenly broke out into an insane fit of giggles and Jean looked at her.

"Sorry, I didn't think of this earlier. But there was a program that I saw, where there was a character on it, he looked like Charles Xavier. Same tone, same mannerisms, anything. They could have been twins, it was hilarious when I met him today."

Jean looked at her with a smile.

"So everything you know about Earth is through what you've watched on television?"

Kara looked sheepish. "Well for a while, although I'm learning very quickly that there was a lot on television that was dramatized. But Krypton and Earth wasn't too different, and I don't mean the looks either. It's just that we were more advanced than Earth was technology wise."

"Krypton was a young planet once too," Jean said and Kara nodded.

"Yeah," Kara said, feeling the warm sea breeze. It was quite liberating. "I think that you'll fit in nicely with the group."

"Kal fit me in quite nicely," Jean said and she blinked. "I'm surprised…..you know females normally kill each other over shoes…"

"So that's accurate?" Kara asked and Jean nodded. "You mean the Great Shoe Genocide of 1989 is real?"

"What….maybe, I don't know," Jean said but she then realized that Kara was having her on. "But I'm surprised that Kal seems to be building a harem…"

"Collective," Kara said without skipping a beat. "Kryptonian royalty, calling a group of women under Kryptonian royalty a harem is…..well it's just not done. I'll explain it you to later."

The two girls wondered where Kal went off to but they suspected that they would find out all too soon.

* * *

Carol Danvers could see him close by, she wanted to see how close she could get without detection.

'_Well that might be a bit too close,' _Carol said, as she saw the flying young man out in front of him. The fact that he took out SHIELD's high tech planes with just a simple gesture made Carol a bit nervous about what he could be capable of. The blonde made sure her jaw was set firmly as she stared him down.

"Land the plane," Kal told her and that was not a request.

Carol figured that she would have a better chance getting information by talking him, then attacking him. She landed the plane where he pointed it out. It was obvious that he could have blown her out of the sky.

Kal watched, he figured that there were going to be people roaming around.

"First you're going to tell me where you found the hole in the grid so we can close it and secondly, you're going to tell me what you're doing here," Kal said and Carol looked at him, she could feel a burst of agitation going through her. "You're not one of SHIELD."

"I've worked with SHIELD but no, I'm not SHIELD," Carol said, she was grateful that he was not about ready to attack her. Perhaps she could get out of here with her sanity intact. "I work with SWORD….it's an organization…"

"That studies extra-terrestrial life," Kal said to her. "Humans for the most part can be very territorial. That's a good thing, if you have the teeth."

The implication of what he said could be heard.

"The problem is that you don't have teeth, do you? You have weapons, but they might be able to put down internal invasions, a full fleet invasion, you have no idea what to do."

Carol agreed, that was a problem but they hoped that Earth would be able to be ready before the time that they were notice. The exploration of the Fantastic Four might have made them a bit more noticeable for some of the more wicked alien races.

"Coming to an island that contains someone with weapons that could take down even the strongest government organizations on Earth, really isn't smart, Miss….."

"Danvers….Carol Danvers," she said but her gaze was at Kal with intensity. She did not back down. She suspected that she could more and hold her own in a fight against him. But that would cause collateral damage that she did not want.

"Well Miss Danvers," Kal whispered to her. "Or may I call you Carol?"

There was no answer other than the obvious one.

"Were you….."

"Threatening you, well not entirely, I wasn't threatening you," Kal said to her. That statement was left hanging. "Merely warning you that a friendly visit can be mistaken for an attack. I know Fury isn't going to take what I told him laying down for long and….we got to be ready for anyone. Magneto and his brotherhood has us in the crosshairs."

"I know about that," Carol said, the human-mutant thing was reaching a fever pitch. She looked at this engaging young man and wondered if she should make the drastic decision that she was about to make.

"You can try and bring me in," Kal said, it was almost like he was hoping for a challenge.

"You and I both know that it wouldn't be a good idea," Carol said.

"Believe me, I do."

Carol shuddered as he was behind her in a blink of an eye. He could do anything and she couldn't stop him.

The fact that he wouldn't do anything was something that she reminded herself of. But the thought in her mind, it continued to stew and simmer like a hamster running around on a wheel.

"So, what do you want to do know?"

Carol thought about radioing back to headquarters but any back up wouldn't have helped her.

"I actually…..want to propose an alliance, considering that there are dangerous alien races that could pose a threat to the world…..you might already know this," Carol said, she was trying to fish for information.

The smile was one that caused many younger females to drop to their knees. An experienced woman like Carol Danvers was able to see right through it, at least for the most part.

"Maybe I do."

He made her wait for that answer.

"I think that you should discuss these matters with some of the other people on this island, they would be more equipped to answer your questions," Kal told her, slowly ensuring that her mind would go wild because of the possibilities.

"Would they?" Carol asked. "I was hoping that you would be able to….."

"Let's walk and talk," Kal said to her, offering her to lead the way. "Do you want me to go first or do….."

"You know the lay of the land, after you."

**To Be Continued. **


End file.
